In a society where the State, far from being a solution, has become the main promoter of poverty—with confiscatory taxes that suffocate the average taxpayer— an alternative and authentic response emerges: the Cireneos project, led by priest Juan Andrés “Gordo” Verde.
Founded in 2017 by young missionaries together with this remarkable priest, the civil association Cireneos operates in Uruguay's most neglected neighborhoods—Santa Eugenia, Costanera, San José, and Melo—with an approach based on three pillars: decent housing, education, and faith.
Far from the State's bureaucratic labyrinths, they have delivered dozens of container homes to families who lived in undignified conditions, with dirt floors and nylon roofs.
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Priest “Gordo” Verde, who even moved to the Santa Eugenia settlement to live alongside the most humble, asserts that they don't need an NGO or state dependency, but rather solidarity, work, and faith.
His message is clear and powerful: it's not the millions from the public budget—loaded with taxes that sterilize growth—that save lives, but the spontaneous commitment of ordinary and autonomous people.
