Esteban Canales

Esteban Canales
Esteban Canales in 1963.
Born	April 15, 1917 El Paico, Chile
Died	December 3, 2006 San Francisco, USA
NSA member	South America 1951 - 1952 Central America 1953 - 1961 Costa Rica 1961 - ????
ABM	Central America 1954 - 1963
Media

Esteban Canales Leyton (April 15, 1917 - December 3, 2006) was a Chilean Bahá'í who was prominent in teaching the Faith throughout Central America, and served as an Auxiliary Board member for the Americas from 1954 to 1963. In his career he worked in journalism and also for the United Nations for a time.

Biography

Esteban was a Bahá'í by the 1940's, and in 1944 he attended a special Centenary Convention held in Illinois for Latin-American delegates, representing Chile. He pioneered to Punta Arenas later that year to assist U.S. pioneer Artemus Lamb, and eight Bahá'ís declared by April 1945, largely due to a radio program presented by Esteban. Esteban remained in Punta Arenas until returning to his home in Santiago in October 1945. In 1946 he attended the first All South American Bahá'í Conference in Buenos Aires, travelling from his home, now in Valparaiso, Chile, to participate in the program.

As of 1948 Esteban was serving as chair of the South American Teaching Committee. He undertook a teaching tour for the Faith in 1948, in which he aimed to visit all the countries of South America, beginning in Antofagasta on the Chile/Bolivia border, then travelling on to La Paz where he spoke to the head of a local radio station who was interested in the Faith and gave a talk to eighty people. He then traveled on to Sucre and Cochabamba in Bolivia, then on to Lima in Peru, and then Guayaquil, where he spoke at the city's most exclusive hall, Quito, where he stayed for six weeks of October to assist the newly established Local Spiritual Assembly, and Ambato in Ecuador. He then traveled on to Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and then São Paulo in January 1949 where he attended the third annual Bahá'í Conference for South America. After the São Paulo Conference Esteban noted he was exhausted, nevertheless in October 1949 he went to Rio de Janeiro to help conduct courses on teacher training and Bahá'í Administration for Brazilian Bahá'ís from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Bahia, and Belo Horizonte at a four day conference. He was the official representative of the National Teaching Committee for South America at the conference, and he also attended conferences held in Montevideo, Santiago and La Paz for the same purpose.

As of August 1950 Esteban was reported as a pioneer to Peru, but he pioneered to Asuncion in Paraguay to assist Sheila Rice-Wray later in 1950. He was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of South America in 1951. He later pioneered to San Jose, Costa Rica, and was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Central America as secretary. Later in 1954 he was appointed to the inaugural Auxiliary Board of the Americas, and was the only Board member designated responsibility for Central America. As Auxiliary Board member for Central America he was assigned the responsibility of visiting Mexico City, Puebla, Guatemala City, Chichicastenango, San Salvador, Santa Ana, Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Taulobe, Managua, Panama City, and Colon between August 1954 and November 1955. In early 1956 Esteban spent time assisting the Bahá'ís of Mexico and Panama, with occasional visits to Costa Rica. In March 1956 Esteban spent twenty days teaching in Cuba, five days in Haiti, and fifteen days in the Dominican Republic. From July to September 1956 he conducted an intensive tour of Mexico and Panama, with included attending the inauguration of the Mexico City Haziratu'l-Quds. In May 1958 he attended an Intercontinental Bahá'í Conference in Chicago, USA, and spoke on the need for pioneers.

In 1961 Esteban was elected to the inaugural National Spiritual Assembly of Costa Rica. He retired as Auxiliary Board member in October 1963.

From 1970 to 2004 he served as editor of the newspaper La Gaceta Chilena.

References

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