The three finalists for this year's Latin America Liberty Award are Asociación Argentina de Contribuyentes (represented by Executive Director Jonas Torrico); Brazil’s Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (represented by Vice President Paola Magnani); and Peru’s Centro de Investigación Looking (represented by Director Edwin Zarco Nieva). The winner will be announced at Latin America Liberty Forum in San José, Costa Rica on March 21–22. This event will be hosted primarily in Spanish, and translators will be available in English. More information can be found here.
The Latin America Liberty Award is part of the Templeton Freedom Award Prize program sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust—named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. In addition to Latin America, the program sponsors awards in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East and North Africa. Its grand prize, the Templeton Freedom Award, is presented annually at Atlas Network’s Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner in New York City. This year, the prize program will award $270,000 in grants to high-achieving organizations that make innovative contributions to economic freedom and human progress.
Asociación Argentina de Contribuyentes (Argentina)
Argentinians have suffered for years under the second highest tax burden in the world, but that is starting to change thanks to Asociación Argentina de Contribuyentes (AAC). The organization united a multipartisan coalition behind eliminating a monthly tax on credit card statements and even returning the tax’s proceeds to taxpayers, a victory unprecedented in recent Argentine history. The tax repeal represents US$300 million in annual savings for 3 million people, and it helped put AAC in the national spotlight after President Milei endorsed their work on tax reform.
Centro de Investigación Looking (Peru)
Through their School of Environmental Leaders, Centro de Investigación Looking offers students and professionals from across Latin America free and on-demand courses on free-market environmentalism. The platform has already reached 600 leaders from across Peru and beyond with training on a free-market approach to solving environmental issues and how to promote those solutions as an attractive alternative to left-wing and top-down ideas.
Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (Brazil)
Each year since 1988, Instituto de Estudos Empresariais has held Fórum da Liberdade (or “Liberty Forum”) as a space for open dialogue and debate focused on promoting human freedom in Brazil and throughout Latin America. Across all 36 events, Fórum da Liberdade has achieved over 80,000 attendees and over 400 speakers, who include heads of state, scholars, and Nobel laureates, and Forbes magazine has recognized it as the largest event of its kind in Latin America.
“Across Latin America, think tanks are stepping up to prove that economic freedom is the secret to creating inclusive prosperity,” said Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips. “Atlas Network is proud to nominate these wonderful organizations for the Latin America Liberty Award and to celebrate the example they set for a region that has been facing rising illiberalism. From Argentina to Peru and Brazil, independent think tanks like our nominees are playing a vital role in charting the path to greater freedom and prosperity.”
