Estudiantes por la Libertad has been awarded the 2019 Award for Student Outreach in Latin America for hosting its inaugural Latin America LibertyCon which provided hundreds of young people from Central and South America intensive education about the power of free markets and the damaging results of big-government policies and equip them with the tools to promote freedom throughout the region.
“The award is a motivational push for all of our leadership in the region, since it showcases that their daily efforts to advance liberty in Latin America are being acknowledged” explained Estudiantes por la Libertad Data Analytics Director Julio Clavijo. “This award represents the growth and impact of the new generation of advocates of liberty who are currently organizing reading groups, regional conferences, leadership fora, debates and many more in countries like Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and many countries across the region.”
LibertyCon—which took place from February 23–24 earlier this year in Mexico City, Mexico—hosted dynamic speakers and breakout sessions dedicated to practical ways to understand the core principles of liberty and to be able to make the case for classical liberal principles on campus, at work, and through the media. In all, more than 570 people from 17 international organizations, universities, and think tanks attended the inaugural LibertyCon—with a social media reach of more than 115,000.
Speakers included former president of Foundation for Economics Education (FEE), Lawerence Reed, who gave a presentation about six lesser-known “real heroes” who changed the world through their commitment to character, and the entrepreneurial spirit and ReasonTV host, Gloria Álvarez, who participated in a panel discussing the best ways to advocate for liberty in our modern world. Atlas Network’s director for the Center for Latin America, Dr. Roberto Salinas León also participated—helping conduct a discussion about the power of women in a free society. Other speakers included Yaron Brook (chairman of Ayn Rand Institute), and Sergio Sarmiento (president of Caminos de la Libertad Foundation), to name a few.
Additionally, students had the chance to interact with organizations such as Caminos de la Libertad, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, the Ayn Rand Institute, Instituto Juan de Mariana, Atlas Network, Human Rights Foundation, and the Liberal Network of America that cultivated discussion and provided additional resources for the participants. Awards were also given to multiple student organizations for their work in advancing the cause of freedom.
“For [students who attended], liberty has become a personal cause and a goal within their countries to avoid the fate and consequences that populist and socialist regimes have caused in the past,” concluded Clavijo. “They want justice, they want freedom and above all they want a future where everyone can pursue their dreams without the government interfering on them, and today they are able to do this through the Eslibertad SFL network, a growing community of liberty-oriented students who are making a difference today through their different activities at their colleges and communities.”