

June 29-July 2, 1993
Atlas 21st 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."