This week, The Wall Street Journal published a sobering op-ed about Chile's economic and political deterioration by Axel Kaiser of Fundación para el Progreso, an Atlas Network partner in Chile. For decades, the country has been hailed as Latin America's freest and most stable nation; Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World: 2019 Annual Report ranks Chile at #13 among the world's most economically free countries, just above Denmark. Yet the country's fall has been swift and, as Axel points out, a direct consequence of the ruling class’ rejection of free-market principles and the rule of law.
Over the years, Fundación para el Progreso and Atlas Network's 13 other partners in Chile have led important discussions of the benefits of free markets, working to create a public consensus around the achievements in economic freedom that arrived in the 1970s and 1980s, producing the "Chilean miracle." Gains in political freedom followed, and the consensus around deregulation, privatization and other free-market policies endured for decades, despite changes in government leadership.
Here at Atlas Network, ourCenter for Latin Americais working to build the connections that will help our local partners lead the way to solutions for this increasingly volatile region. Director Roberto Salinas León wrote recently of theilliberal populism that is sweeping across Latin America, and the lessons he shares are applicable to Chile as well.
As we begin a new year, I want to thank you again your support of Atlas Network. Your investment in our work is helping our partners in Latin America and around the world raise their voices and rally others to ensure that freedom survives. Best,
Brad Brad Lips
CEO
Atlas Network
Brad Lips
