Manuel Ayau

Manuel Ayau (1925-2010) was the founder and former rector and teacher of economics at Universidad Francisco Marroquin. Begun as an alternative to the prevailing statist views of higher education in Guatemala, Francisco Marroquin is now regarded as that country's finest university. In addition to being a successful businessman, Ayau is a former Chairman of the Guatemala Stock Exchange, was a member of the Guatemala House of Representatives, and served as President of the Mont Pelerin Society. He also served for many years on the Board of Liberty Fund.

In 1946 Leonard [Read] ... set up the Foundation for Economic Education ... It is astonishing how soon Leonard's action began to produce important results ... Another effect of Leonard's initiative soon followed. Other libertarian foundations were set up in emulation ... Manuel Ayau in Guatemala established his libertarian Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Groups in other Latin American countries have set up their own equivalents of FEE.

I believe that it is now recognized that to date, Latin America has not given Capitalism a chance. South and Central America have suffered and lived under what Adam Smith condemned as the mercantile system, better known later as mercantilism, inherited from Spain and Portugal since colonial days ... [W]e don't live in a perfect world. Latin America is going the right way. It promises more freedom and prosperity than in the past. And this prosperity will also be good for the U.S. and the world, because in a freer world, we are all better off when our neighbors are better off.

Latin America is well known for its endemic political instability, coups d'etat, widespread underdevelopment, monetary instability, disproportionate foreign debts, corruption, violence, and recently, the implausible scenario of oil-rich countries going broke ... [I]f (1) the bailing-out agencies refrain from preventing corrective measures, and (2) we expand the efforts to disseminate the economic and ethical principles of the free society, perhaps the Latin American countries will be ready to try freedom before they reach a total collapse.

The way the current debt crisis of some countries is frequently being analyzed is reminiscent of prior occasions when the solution was considered to be subsidized bail-outs of debtor nations by the governments of lending nations or by international financial agencies. These attempted solutions, however, have in most cases aggravated the problem ... Let me make a forecast—and a wish that will not be fulfilled. The forecast is that capital will continue to seek its highest value of use ... If this recently developed IMF role ... is reduced or eliminated, what will take its place ...?