Atlas Think Tank Workshop 1993, Bolivia

June 29-July 2, 1993

Atlas 21^st International Workshop focused on Social Security, Institutional Reform, Market Oriented Environmentalism, and Privatization. It was co-hosted by FULIDED. The program featured training on verbal communication led by the late Carlos Loprete. Some of the speakers are no longer with us, such as Ricardo Zinn, master privatizer, who spoke about the process of privatization of the telephone, steel and oil industries of Argentina. Former Peruvian Minister Carlos Boloña, who later faced major problems, spoke about the difficult transitions going from think tanks to government and back to think tanks.

Jacob "Bumper" Hornberger spoke about the US and its role in the world.

Also attending that event and very much active in the freedom movement were: Dora de Ampuero (Ecuador), Ron Bailey (Reason), Gerardo Bongiovanni (Argentina), Denise Couyoumdjian (Chile), Enrique Ghersi (Peru), Romulo López Sabando (Ecuador, whose son later joined Atlas), Oscar Ortíz Antelo (in his 20’s he later became head of the Bolivian Senate), Judge Ricardo Rojas, (Argentina), Carlos Sabino (Venezuela) and Alejandra Salinas (Argentina).

The late Leandro Cantó, (Venezuela) also attended [in the yellow shirt]. We had a good representation from Brazil: Roy Ashton, Odemiro Fonseca, Fernando Fontana, Jacy de Souza Mendonca, Estéfano Ulandosky, and Fernando Zanella.

Still fresh in my memory: Samuel Doria Medina, who was a young Minister of Planning (34 yrs old), told the public: “Do you know how we know who is innocent in a legal case?” “The one who goes to jail, because the guilty had enough incentive to bribe the judge in advance.” A couple of years after his speech, Doria Medina was kidnapped by the MIR terrorist movement. He was held captive for 45 days. Doria Medina also survived a plane crash. During this last decade he ran twice for President, will he survive today’s polluted economic-political environment in Bolivia?

I met Judge Ricardo Rojas for the first time at this event. In his lecture he stated: "in a liberal society, the Constitution is pact of self-defense, destined to achieve a peaceful coexistence, it is not a norm destined to provide concrete benefits to a particular party or person."