Guatemala’s bastion of free-market thinking

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‘Leftist ideology may be gaining ground in Latin America. But it will never set foot on the manicured lawns of Francisco Marroquin University,’ writes The Times’ Marla Dickerson from Guatemala City.

For nearly 40 years, this private college has been a citadel of laissez-faire economics. Here, banners quoting ‘The Wealth of Nations’ author Adam Smith -- he of the powdered wig and invisible hand -- flutter over the campus food court.

A sculpture commemorating Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is affixed to the school of business. Students celebrated the novel’s 50th anniversary last year with an essay contest. The $200 cash prize reinforced the book’s message that society should reward capitalist go-getters who create wealth and jobs, not punish them with taxes and regulations.

‘The poor are not poor just because others are rich,’ said Manuel Francisco Ayau Cordon, a feisty octogenarian businessman, staunch anti-communist and founder of the school. ‘It’s not a zero-sum game.’

Welcome to Guatemala’s Libertarian U. Ayau opened the college in 1972, fed up with what he viewed as the ‘socialist’ instruction being imparted at San Carlos University of Guatemala, the nation’s largest institution of higher learning.

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City