October 08, 2001 by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - http://mises.org/daily/799
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After the dust settled, the American Embassy in Guatemala wrote a report on the alarming collapse of government authority. Rather than blame the politicians for attempting to loot further an already impoverished people, or dismissing the excuse as worthy of a typical socialist despot, the report blamed the people who were unwilling to obey.
The US complained that “the failure to pay taxes deprives the government of the resources it needs to provide services that could create institutional confidence and support. As a result, the public has little incentive to pay taxes, and the government has little incentive to provide adequate services and thus to convince the public of the value of paying taxes.”
It sounds like a typical complaint The New York Times would make, but then the report moved on to unearth what it called the “intellectual origins of anti-statism among Guatemala’s elite.” In particular, the US embassy blamed “the economic philosophy of the Austrian school economists, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek,” which has taken root in a local university.
The US embassy report continues with alarm: “These extreme views would have little practical effect if they only reflected the opinions of a few individuals. But ironically, as the threat from the left has receded, the libertarian view has gained strength and has become unquestioned dogma.”
The US embassy is particularly struck that such opinions would take root in Guatemala, because there is virtually no socialist threat, particularly not an academic one. “There are probably fewer Marxists at San Carlos University today,” the report observes with candor, “than at many American universities.”
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This great piece lead me to this one: Manuel Ayau: Guatemala’s Liberal Searcher
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He continued to explain his motives for ridding the airport of routine customs checks. “When I first brought Mises to Guatemala back in the ’60s, I of course met his flight when it landed. I was standing next to him as a customs agent searched the contents of his luggage. Mises leaned over to me and remarked,‘They’re making sure that I’m bringing no wealth into your country.’ I determined then and there that I would work to put an end to that nonsense.”
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Now to my question; does anyone have any updates or information regarding Guatemala? Any other sources would be good thanks. I’m interested in their progress down there.
