It's been 17 years since I wrote this little Intelligence report on the state of the Free Market Movement in Ecuador. Little did I suspected back then when I came to live in Washington DC that we were going to be in the throes of Socialism of the XXI Century for a decade starting in 2007.
Ecuador is still at risk, there is much to be undone for a decade lost on a much maligned philosophy that consumed Ecuadorians, in which almost everything was lost and the country was closer than ever to become another Venezuela, another Cuba. Ecuadorians still have to fight, they have to recover economically from so much corruption, graft and waste.
Nonetheless I believe that the only reason why Ecuador was not lost at all was due to the fact that there was a small group of people that kept fighting for Freedom with ideas. They were not many before 2001, but I am sure there are many more now after living under the guise of a revolution that promised to get Ecuador out of underdevelopment and poverty at the expense of their freedom.
A younger version of me wrote this paper attached back on my early days at Atlas, it was a market analysis, first step necessary to complete my Internship at Atlas Network. It was a way of providing intelligence for Atlas so see how to help the freedom movement in Ecuador and that required to research the local market. For me it was also a way to know better what was going in my country of birth, put ideas together see what could be done.
Fortunately or unfortunately things changed and rather than returning to Ecuador I got offered to stay at Atlas for a little longer, and a little longer and longer. So far is 17 years and counting with Atlas. But that's another story, what matters and the reason for me to share this is to perhaps inspire or perhaps tell a story that while so far has up's and downs it's a story of what happened back then and what could be done again today to change things for the better.
Yes Ecuador lost a decade from 2007-2017, but I have seen that there is more interest for the ideas of Freedom. Liberty doesn't sounds as fringe as it sounded back then, perhaps what Ecuador went through was necessary to forge on fire the Freedom Movement there. Only under great duress is that stronger things come out. I am only hopeful that things will get better and younger and more enthusiastic people will have better luck than what I had back then.
Word of warning back then my English was not in great shape having arrived in March and writing this in April 2001 and although I have become a better writer and speaker I still don't feel comfortable about my English, so please accept my apologies for my language shortcomings. Some of the actors in my April 2001 report are gone they disappeared in some instances, but in others their participants never left, they just kept the fight from different institutions or through their writings in local newspapers and today are important members of the civil society that keep the fight for freedom like a beacon from their current positions. I have added a strike-through at the end on the list of institution that have disappeared (PDF remains unmodified). Others have appeared but that is the work of others living currently in Ecuador to report. In any case read below to learn a bit more about the history of The fight for Freedom in Ecuador before 2001.
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
2007-03-02
The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration
Link: The Claremont Institute » For the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy.
Should Americans lose their citizenship and be expelled from the US for their lack of virtue and adherence to Republican principles? How do you measure beforehand (before they come here) virtue, with their original country forged or faked police record? Do you rely on your friends and neighbors comments (who might be lying) or even your study titles (like Mohammed Atta, Architect and medicine student).
The problem is that sounds nice what they said, but it is impossible to know how they are going to behave once they are here. So you either take a good faith leap or become paranoid and request all sort of documents and carry on investigations that in the end might prove nothing.
How do you deal with poor uneducated immigrants that don't have education and might even have police encounters in their records due to law violations for selling fruits in the market without a officially sanctioned license? Most of them come here and become hard working individuals.
I don't buy the books thesis a priori, will have to read it to understand better, but does not impresses me.
Should Americans lose their citizenship and be expelled from the US for their lack of virtue and adherence to Republican principles? How do you measure beforehand (before they come here) virtue, with their original country forged or faked police record? Do you rely on your friends and neighbors comments (who might be lying) or even your study titles (like Mohammed Atta, Architect and medicine student).
The problem is that sounds nice what they said, but it is impossible to know how they are going to behave once they are here. So you either take a good faith leap or become paranoid and request all sort of documents and carry on investigations that in the end might prove nothing.
How do you deal with poor uneducated immigrants that don't have education and might even have police encounters in their records due to law violations for selling fruits in the market without a officially sanctioned license? Most of them come here and become hard working individuals.
I don't buy the books thesis a priori, will have to read it to understand better, but does not impresses me.
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