The Center aims to complement – and finds ways to collaborate with – other efforts to advance sound policy ideas in Latin America. Two organizations with long and friendly relationships with Atlas Network, which come immediately to mind are Fundación Internacional para la Libertad and Red Liberal de América Latina. We welcome inquiries about how we might work cooperatively with other organizations pursuing similar ends.
Atlas Network’s Center for Latin America works with local civil society organizations across the region to solve complex issues from the bottom up. Together we can build an inclusive prosperity and a future of freedom in Latin America.
Latest Center updates
In late 2019, Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa described the situation in Latin America as “absolutely perplexing.” The ascent of illiberal populism from Mexico to Argentina, plus the setbacks in Chile and elsewhere, coupled with the devastation occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, suggested a dark road ahead for Latin America, confirming its reputation as the perpetual “land of mañana.”
Our 100+ partners in the region, however, work hard, every day, to demonstrate how bloated bureaucracies, regulatory extortion and more limits on freedom of choice keep small business, women entrepreneurs, young innovators, and everyday citizens from moving forward and reaping the rewards of inclusive prosperity, social mobility, and human dignity.
Against the odds of rising autocracies, intolerance, and rampant misinformation about markets and liberal democracies, our partners have shown, with creative stories and policy proposals, why Latin America is, rather, the land of “sí se puede.” It can be done. It has been done. And, we are convinced it will again be done.
We invite you to learn more about the Center for Latin America, and the extraordinary work of our partners across the region.
Initiatives
The Center for Latin America leverages and complements the bottom-up approach of Atlas Network’s “Coach, Compete, Celebrate!”™ strategy by initiating a new set of initiatives that seek to accelerate policy victories by local partners and rebrand liberalism in the region as a culturally authentic, pragmatic, and inclusive framework of ideas based on principles of individual and economic freedom, entrepreneurship, macroeconomic stability, sound institutions, and strong rule of law.
News & ideas
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Is it still liberalism’s hour in Latin America?In April of 2020, The Economist’s Bello column controversially proclaimed that it should be “Latin American liberalism´s hour.” Bello columnist Michael Reid meant a set of ideas emphasizing justice systems that check power and privilege; equality of opportunity before the law; tolerance instead of bigotry, and science instead of ideological “quackery.”Read Article- Center for Latin America statement on repression in NicaraguaAtlas Network’s Center for Latin America strongly condemns the Nicaraguan government's repressive actions against its critics, including the beating and imprisonment of presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga and economist Juan Sebastián Chamorro.Read Article
- The role of influencers on economic issues in US, Latin America, and SpainA recent study by Carlos Newland, Juan Carlos Rosiello, and Roberto Salinas León, on the role of influencers in economic matters in the United States, Latin America, and Spain, was published by the distinguished Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, which can be found here.Read Article
- LIBERA Bolivia examines street fair that has lifted thousands from povertyOn March 10, 2021, our partners at LIBERA Bolivia presented an audiovisual production called Sabemos Vender Bien (We Know How to Sell Well) that presents the events of Feria 16 de Julio in El Alto, Bolivia, a huge street fair that has helped lift thousands of people out of poverty in recent decades by encouraging free market activity for independent sellers.Read Article
- Economic freedom audit in Colombia receives widespread attentionThe Instituto de Ciencia Política Hernán Echavarría (ICP), one of Atlas Network’s active partners in Latin America, organized an important online event on March 17 examining Colombia’s ranking within the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report (EFW) and opportunities for improvement.Read Article
- Announcing the Certell PrizeAtlas Network is proud to announce its first digital distribution contest, powered by Certell and the Cato Institute. In collaboration with Atlas Network’s Center for Latin America, the contest was announced during the Latin American Regional Liberty Forum 2021 by Esteban González. For the next three months, associates and partner organizations—and their members—will be asked to share the e-book Cinco Tendencias que Debes Conocer, a Spanish-language adaptation of 10 Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know published by the Cato Institute’s project on Human Progress.Read Article
Featured Event
Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner
- Date:
- Monday, Dec 13, 2021 – Tuesday, Dec 14, 2021
- Location:
- Miami Beach, Florida
The annual Liberty Forum brings together amazing freedom champions to exchange ideas, share strategies, and celebrate successes that create the conditions for liberty to thrive. The gala Freedom Dinner serves as a fitting grand finale to this conference, celebrating heroes of the freedom movement and the principles that Atlas Network’s partners are advancing worldwide.
Experts
Dr. Roberto Salinas, Executive Director
Roberto Salinas is the Executive Director of the Atlas Network Center for Latin America. He is also currently President of the Mexico Business Forum, President of the Alamos Alliance, Senior Debate Fellow and Debate Lecturer at the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, and an Adjunct Scholar of the Cato Institute. He has published more than 2,000 editorials (English and Spanish) on public policy topics, in The Wall Street Journal, The Journal of Commerce, Investor’s Business Daily, Barrons, and others. He is an occasional commentator for CNN, CNN Latinamerica, CNCB, BBC, and others. Roberto Salinas León holds a B.A. in political economy, history and philosophy from Hillsdale College, Michigan; and an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University, Indiana.
Gonzalo Schwarz, General Manager
Gonzalo Schwarz is the General Manager of the Atlas Network Center for Latin America and the President & CEO of the Archbridge Institute. The Archbridge Institute is an organization dedicated to removing the barriers that prevent individuals across the globe from bettering their lives. While forming the idea to start the Archbridge Institute, Gonzalo Schwarz was working as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Atlas Network. During his six years at Atlas, he managed key projects including the Leveraging Indices for Free Enterprise Reform program, the Templeton Freedom Award, the Latin American program, and the Sound Money Project. He also participated as an instructor in various Atlas Network training programs. Mr. Schwarz earned his MA in Economics from George Mason University and his BA in Economics from the Catholic University of Bolivia.
Antonella Marty, Associate Director of PR and Influencer Relations; Senior Fellow
Antonella Marty is the Associate Director of PR and Influencer Relations at Atlas Network and Senior Fellow of the Center for Latin America. She is the host of the Center’s podcast Hablemos Libertad. She is also the Director at the Center for Latin American Studies at Fundación Libertad (Argentina) and Senior Fellow at Fundación Internacional para la Libertad (Spain). She is the CEO of Sociedad Atlas at The Atlas Society. Ms. Marty is an author of multiple books including The Intellectual Populist Dictatorship (2015), What Every Revolutionary of The 21st Century Should Know (2018), Capitalism: Antidote to Poverty (2019), and her latest book is called El Manual Liberal (2021). Ms. Marty received her bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Universidad Abierta Interamericana (Argentina).
Axel Kaiser, Senior Fellow
Axel Kaiser Barents von Hohenhagen is a Chilean-German lawyer, Master in Investments, Commerce and Arbitration, Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He is Director of the FA Hayek Chair at the Adolfo Ibáñez University in Santiago de Chile, and co-founder and president of the think tank Foundation for Progress in Chile. He is a columnist for the newspapers Financiero and El Mercurio and his opinions have been published in international media such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Quillette, Forbes.com, La Nación de Argentina, El País de Uruguay and El Mundo, among others. He is an international lecturer and author of several best-selling books including El Engaño Populista (Deusto, 2016), The Pope and Capitalism (2018), The Tyranny of Equality (El Mercurio, 2015) La fatal ignorancia (2009) and The Neo inquisition (Deusto 2020).
Juan Jose Daboub PhD, Distinguished Senior Fellow
Dr. Juan José Daboub is the Chairman and CEO of The Daboub Partnership, an initiative of ARCIS, LLC, dedicated to delivering results for public and private organizations around the world. He is also the Founding Chief Executive Officer of the Global Adaptation Institute (www.gain.org). As Managing Director of the World Bank from 2006 to 2010, Dr. Daboub oversaw operations in 110 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, East Asia and Latin America. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Daboub served concurrently as El Salvador’s Minister of Finance and as Chief of Staff to the President. Dr. Daboub has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and many other international publications. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, EWTN, TCS, and many other broadcast media outlets. Dr. Daboub holds a Bachelor’s of Science, Master’s of Science and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Exclusive interview with Hon. Luis Lacalle Pou, President of the Republic of Uruguay
Atlas Network's Center for Latin America presents, in collaboration with the Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo of Uruguay, an interview with the honorable president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, by Martín Aguirre: editor-in-chief of the newspaper El País, editor of the newsletter Mirada Sur and advisory board member of the Center for Latin America.
Frequently Asked Questions
- The Center is not endowed and does not accept funding from any government. It relies entirely on the generosity of individuals and institutional donors that share its desire to create greater freedom and opportunity for the people of Latin America.
- "Since the Center believes the best policy solutions come from the bottom-up, our strategy is to listen to our partners rather than direct them. The principal focus of our work is in supporting our partners’ locally-grown solutions to poverty and other problems via training, grants, and networking opportunities. That said, we do bring together our Council of Ideas to identify areas of collaboration around big themes that resonate with many partners. Current themes include: • Improving understanding of the benefits of trade and the dangers of protectionism, so that political leaders will less inclined to indulge in demagoguery that could undermine beneficial trading relationships. • Rooting out corruption and political privileges that distort the economic playing field. Such work will help us clarify that enlightened political actors will be “pro-market” (since market competition produces innovation and lowers prices for consumers), not “pro-business” (a euphemism for helping existing businesses at the expense of competitors and consumers). • Using tools like the Doing Business report of the World Bank and the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World report to identify “low-hanging-fruit” reforms that can measurably increase economic freedom."
- "The mission of the Center is to help achieve a lasting peace and inclusive prosperity in Latin America, providing justice and opportunity to all its citizens. Our strategy is to assist civil society organizations in the region to implement bottom-up projects that increase freedom. This means we focus our attention on helping our partners by providing (1) training; (2) competitive grant opportunities; and (3) networking opportunities. Through our annual Latin America Liberty Forum and other events and public campaigns, we also bring public attention to the projects of our partners and the importance of their work."
- The Center for Latin America serves a network of independent think tanks and civil society organizations that take their own positions on specific policy topics in specific countries. We are not a think tank ourselves, so we are not in the business of giving hot takes on the news of the day. On occasion, our team can assist media inquiries by providing references to experts associated with our partner organizations, but these individuals do not speak for the Center itself.
If you would like to learn more about the Center and meet those involved in its work, consider attending our upcoming Latin America Liberty Forum.
If you are working for a think tank or civil society group that would like to take part in training programs and grant competitions, the first step is to go through Atlas Network’s partner approval process
If you are a philanthropist wanting to learn about the Center’s work, please contact Antonella Marty. We would be happy to provide details that will help you make an informed decision about how gifts to the Center for Latin America may fulfill your philanthropic goals. Those who become Sponsors of the Center are invited to take part in our annual Día Logos retreat, which fosters camaraderie and collaboration among those with shared ambitions for building freer societies across the Americas.
If you are a member of the academy or the media, we welcome your inquiries about how you might contribute to a better understanding of the work of the Center and the achievements of our independent partners.
- The Center welcomes speaking invitations for our Director, Roberto Salinas-Leon. Please contact Antonella Marty with the details of your invitation. We must warn that Dr. Salinas needs to decline most of the invitations he receives, but we will give consideration to each request that is received. On occasion, Atlas Network may able to suggest one or more alternate speakers for your event should Dr. Salinas be unavailable.
- The Center for Latin America collaborates with partners that understand how individual rights, limited government under the rule of law, and free markets tend to create prosperity and improve the prospects for peace. The Center calls for an end to cronyism, corruption, and political privileges of all kinds, and looks forward to working with all people of goodwill who share this vision. In this way, the Center adheres to a set of principles, but not to a narrowly-defined ideology or political orientation.
- No. The Center for Latin America does not engage in partisan politics. Our focus is on building a long-term consensus around the principles that foster peace and prosperity, with the sincere hope that such a future will see ‘less at stake’ in individual elections, because all parties will be respectful of fundamental freedoms.
In the Media
