America
In Argentina, cooperatives are governed by National Law 20,337.[7] The state control body is currently the National Institute of Associativism and Social Economy (INAES).[8].
With respect to the constitution of cooperatives, the founding members must attend an information and training course on cooperatives.[9].
There are provinces in Argentina where we can observe a greater organization of the cooperative sector, but we cannot say that there are places where a group of associates are not organized under this system. The Constitution") of the Province of Misiones is related to cooperativism: by promoting it in education,[n. 1] granting privileges for the delivery of lots[n. 2], exploitation of resources and services at the same level as public organizations,[n. 3] etc.
In 2016, Argentina had an approximate number of 30,000 active cooperatives of different types: agricultural, housing, consumer, credit, provision, public services, work.[10] According to the last Census of Cooperatives and Mutualism carried out by the INAES in 2008, there were 12,760 cooperatives in the country and 4,166 mutuals. Together they generated 265,054 direct jobs. Among the former, 59.7% corresponded to work cooperatives.[11] Since the 2000s, numerous companies began to emerge, recovered by their workers, who occupied them and put them into operation after they were abandoned by their shareholders. These companies (mainly factories) have mostly preferred to become self-managed cooperatives.
In Chile, according to figures from the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism "Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism (Chile)"), there are around 1,200 active cooperative companies, in various areas, such as services, agriculture, farming, fishing, work, and savings and credit, bringing together more than one million three hundred thousand people.
There are a large number of small and medium-sized cooperative companies in the agricultural and livestock world. They usually receive state support through the National Institute of Agricultural Development, an institution created for the development of agriculture during the agrarian reform of the 1960s; However, the most successful agricultural cooperatives in the country are Capel and Colún, and they predate that process.
Another nationally recognized cooperative is Coopeuch"), a savings and credit cooperative originally created in 1967 by officials from the University of Chile and which today is present throughout the country; and also Coopercarab") (Cooperativa de Carabineros), a series of multi-stores present in several cities.
Chilean housing cooperatives also carry out an important activity in the field of housing acquired with a housing subsidy provided by the Chilean State. One of the most important is Conavicoop, which since 1975 has built more than 40,000 homes between the regions of Valparaíso and Araucanía, including the Metropolitan Region.
The body in charge of supervising cooperatives and promoting the growth of the cooperative sector in Chile is the Department of Cooperatives&action=edit&redlink=1 "Department of Cooperatives (Chile) (not yet drafted)"), of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism. Under this same name, in 1935 one of the leading radio stations in that country was born, first called Cooperativa Vitalicia, today simply Cooperativa.
Even though in Colombia cooperativism, as a way for communities to manage their interests, goes beyond national regulations, the different states have recognized and regulated them in their internal legal systems, Colombia having done so since the government of Enrique Olaya Herrera (1930-1934). Recently, Law 79 of 1988 and Law 454 of 1998 are the legal norms that regulate these private law associations in Colombia, where transport cooperatives, associated worker cooperatives and cooperative public administrations have had special development. The Superintendency of Solidarity Economy supervises the preservation of the values, principles, characteristics, activities, results and benefits of members of Colombian cooperatives.
Cooperative Public Administrations.
Characterized by the cooperative movement by the self-management of its participants in the associative entity created for the solution of their common problems, the reality of the difficulties - essentially economic - that some poor municipalities in Colombia faced, determined that associations of municipalities were created there in the middle of the century that, governed by cooperative principles, came to generate what today are called Cooperative Public Administrations, aimed at providing solutions to the common needs of the territorialities.
The initial idea of contributions from the associates in search of carrying out common service tasks and under the collegial direction of the members, certainly allowed the development of these entities, which were expressly recognized in Colombia by Decree Law 1482 of 1989, over time however they have posed an important crossroads to the legality of the Public Administration: Can a cooperative of public entities, governed by the principle that they can only do what the law authorizes them to do (C.N. Art. 6), address the principle of cooperative "self-management", without transgressing cooperative law and its own nature? Today there is still no authorized solution on the point, and the operational difficulties that this cooperative typology has determined are resolved with sometimes inconceivable lurches, derived from the State control bodies that fight for debatable powers vis-à-vis these social entities.
In Costa Rica there are a large number of cooperatives, among them the most recognized are: Milk Producers Cooperative (which is identified as Dos Pinos, which is actually a symbol of cooperativism), the Rural Electrification Cooperatives, the agricultural Cooperatives for the export of products and the Credecoop R.L. Savings and Credit Cooperatives. The latter move significant amounts of savings and credit, in many cases having a greater volume of assets than private banks.
Rural Electrification Cooperatives are dedicated to the distribution and generation of electrical energy for their members. In Costa Rica there are four cooperatives of this type: Coopelesca"), Coopeguanacaste"), Coopesantos") and Coopealfaroruiz").
In Mexico, cooperatives began in 1902, promoted by the Catholic Church and under the German system, but with the religious persecution of 1926 the cooperative movement perished. It was not until the end of 1951, through the efforts of the Mexican Social Secretariat directed by Father Pedro Velásquez, after publishing brochures on the popular savings banks, that the first three cooperatives were established in Mexico City.
The Cruz Azul cooperative is a clear example of success. It was founded in 1881 as a purely commercial and foreign company benefited by the Englishman Henry Gibbon, located in a part of the old Hacienda de Jasso, in 1932 it was expropriated by the governor of the State of Hidalgo, Bartolomé Vargas Lugo. It was Don Guillermo Álvarez Macías with whom modern cooperativism began and survives as a company in a globalized world.
In 1964, "Caja Morelia Valladolid" was born with the aim of contributing to the social and economic development of its members and forming a savings bank. It was founded in the city of Morelia, thanks to the interest of Father José Ibarrola, hence in its beginnings it was given the name "Caja José Ibarrola", which to date is governed under the principles of Universal Cooperativism. It is currently authorized by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) to be a regulated savings and credit entity, which promotes and facilitates the raising of resources and subsequently the distribution of credits for the members of a cooperative with the assurance that their resources are protected.
In 1991 the federal executive published the General Law of Organizations and Auxiliary Credit Activities in which the legal figure of Savings and Loan Society was integrated; This legal instrument for the first time recognized the popular savings banks. However, only twenty popular savings banks adhered to this law.
In 1994, the cajista movement consulted members to define the position in the treatment of this new law. 62 popular savings banks decided to form a single national institution, so in 1995 Caja Popular Mexicana, Sociedad de Ahorro y Préstamo, was established.
There are also service production cooperatives that have focused on the development of the cooperative sector, such is the case of the "Cedicoop" Integral Cooperative Development Center, created in 2014, where training, consulting, advice and creation and incubation of companies are produced under the cooperative model.
At the local level, on January 20, 2006, the III Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District "Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (Mexico)"), issued the decree by which the Cooperative Development Law for the Federal District is created. the Regulations of the Law,[13] the powers and attributions of the head of Government, Secretariats and the 16 Delegation Heads.
The customs, organization and system of life of the Guaraní constitute the immediate antecedent to the cooperative doctrine and practice in the country; All this would later be used through Jesuit reductions. The indigenous people used to hold amandayé or tribal assembly, and practice both oñondivepá or solidarity work and yopói or mutual aid.[15].
In the 1940s, the first cooperatives formally emerged, which were production cooperatives and were governed - in the absence of special legislation - by the Commercial Code; The oldest recorded antecedent being that of a Guaireña agro-industrial cooperative of viticulturists and wine makers, created in 1941. That same year, Decree-Law No. 13,635 was passed, which would later become law. The number of cooperatives grew gradually over the next fifty years. In 1972, the new Law No. 349 on Cooperatives was approved, which among other provisions created the General Directorate of Cooperatives, a government entity. By 1983 there were 162 cooperatives with more than 50,000 members. In recent times, due to the great growth of the movement, experienced especially since the 1990s, the current law, No. 438/94 on Cooperatives, was approved. For the year 2011, official data indicate the existence of a total of 937 cooperatives, with 1,220,150 members, mainly savings and credit, and production.[16].
For some years now, Paraguay has been one of the countries with the highest percentage of cooperative members - out of the total population - in the world (close to twenty percent of the residents in the territory).
It is a very strong movement giving high competition to financial companies and banks due to their low rates and strong social performance. In addition, there are Mutual Funds for Private Retirement, although their results are still doubtful.
The main organization is the Paraguayan Confederation of Cooperatives (CONPACOOP), which brings together the country's cooperatives and federations.
There is also a National Institute of Cooperatives (INCOOP), a government entity created from Law 2157/03: “Which regulates the operation of INCOOP and establishes its Organic Charter”, which says in its Art. provisions of this Law, the regulations and other rules relating to Cooperatives". Its president is appointed by the president of the republic from a shortlist elected by the National Assembly of Cooperatives.[17].
In the Congress of the Republic, a Special Commission has been created in charge of evaluating compliance with ILO Recommendation 193 and formulating a New Legal Framework for Cooperatives, which is chaired by the congressman, Mg. José A. Urquizo Maggia.
On June 16, 2010, the Commission on Economy, Banking, Finance and Financial Intelligence, chaired by Congressman Luis Galarreta Velarde, submitted for debate Bill No. 3747, which specifies the scope of articles 3 and 66 of the General Law of Cooperatives, which was supported by the president of the National Coffee Board, César Rivas, and the advisor, César Manuel Quispe Luján, who pointed out that the legislative proposal proposes that SUNAT recognize that between the member and his cooperative, and vice versa, they are cooperative acts, which do not generate tax obligations, in this way avoiding double taxation, the same that has always been recognized in Peruvian cooperative legislation.
This initiative was supported by the congressmen (GPF), who requested that this project be put on the agenda and submitted to a vote, which was accepted unanimously. In their interventions, they were supported by congressmen Raúl Castro (UN) and Rolando Reátegui (GPF), as well as by congressman Yamashiro Oré" (UN), who stated that “coffee cooperatives make a great contribution to the country, SUNAT knows how much is exported and who exports coffee. It is unjustifiable that double taxation is imposed on farmers and producers," stated the legislator. Once the interventions were completed, Galarreta Velarde put the project to a vote without any modification, and it was approved by a majority.
The congressmen: Rafael Yamashiro (UN), Rolando Reategui (GPF), Carlos Canepa (UPP), Daniel Abugattás (PNP) and César Zumaeta (PAP) voted in favor of the norm.
Cooperative organizations in Venezuela date back to 1890 when the first of them was founded in the Andean town of Chiguará in the State of Mérida "Estado Mérida (Venezuela)"), as a savings and credit entity. Around 1900, in the east of the country, on Margarita Island, specifically in the city of Porlamar, an artisans' cooperative was founded.
Already in 1910, the Cooperative Law was enacted, with great similarities to the French one. In 1919, cooperatives were incorporated into the Commercial Code as commercial companies, in section X On Cooperative Companies with a single article that refers to the corresponding Law.
In 1937, the then President Eleazar López Contreras promoted cooperativism with ordinances to the other Presidents of States (now Governors) to encourage the constitution of this type of companies in the regions. In 1944, the State was obliged to promote and protect cooperativism through a new Cooperative Law enacted during the tenure of President Isaías Medina Angarita.
In 1960, the first Cooperative was founded in the state of Falcón, which is an expression of a new conception of Venezuelan Cooperatives. It is the Tacuato cooperative in Punto Fijo.
Subsequently, in 1966, the General Law of Cooperative Associations was promulgated, which in addition to deepening the obligation of the State in the promotion and development of cooperatives, created the National Superintendency of Cooperatives (SUNACOOP).
In 1967, the first cooperative center called Central Cooperative of Social Services Lara (CECOSESOLA) was founded. Cecosesola is established as a cooperative integration organization that integrates a network of about 50 popular organizations belonging to the States of Lara, Trujillo, Yaracuy, Portuguesa and Barinas. The organizations that make up the network have 20,000 associated people, of which 1,000 are associated workers. The services, which are provided at prices well below those stipulated by the market, benefit 70,000 families, in most cases, from the popular sectors.[18].
In 2001, a new Special Law on Cooperative Associations was enacted. By 2008, SUNACOOP had registered more than 260,000 cooperatives throughout Venezuela, of which 61,856. This figure would place Venezuela as the country with the largest number of active cooperatives in Latin America.[19][20].