Ultraliberal Connections in the Americas

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By KATIA GERAB BAGGIO*

The political role of the North American think tank Atlas Network and its links with Latin American and Brazilian organizations

Atlas Network and ultraliberalism

Initially, I clarify that my interest in the Atlas Network's links with Latin American organizations — and, in particular, Brazilian ones — is evidently due to the Brazilian political situation in recent years. My objective is to present the connections between the advance of an ultraliberal right — in Brazil and in other Latin American countries — and the think tanks North American Atlas Network, which has partnerships with several ultraliberal organizations around the world.[1]

I explain, at the beginning, that I opted for the expression ultraliberal, instead of neoliberal, because I consider it more accurate. The term neoliberal has even been used to name Keynesian ideas and economic policies from the interwar period, linked to the implementation of welfare state models or social market economy, although, later, this conception has fallen into disuse.

From the 1980s onwards, the term neoliberal began to be used, as is known, in practically the opposite direction, that is, to name the economic and social proposals of a minimal State, defense of the free market and deregulation in a period of rapid and intense globalization. I consider the term ultraliberal, as I have already said, more accurate, as it synthesizes the proposals of an accentuated liberalism, in the era of financial globalization.[2]

The Atlas Network — think tanks legally called the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, headquartered in Washington, DC — has been active since 1981 in the defense and propagation of ultraliberal right-wing concepts, with partner organizations on all continents. In 2013, the name of the organization was changed to Atlas Network, although the legal name remained the same: Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Its main creator — and founder — was Antony Fisher (1915-1988), a British businessman who defended the views of the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek — as well as, later, of the American Milton Friedman —, who moved, in the 1970s, to to the United States, after a period of two years in Canada, where he was director of the Fraser Institute, another think tanks ultraliberal.

In 1955, Fisher had founded the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London. It is well known that, since the beginning of the 1960s, Margaret Thatcher (Conservative Party), who would become the British prime minister between 1979 and 1990 — a period in which there was a progressive dismantling of the welfare state in Great Britain. Britain — attended meetings at the IEA.[3]

It is worth remembering that, in the same year of the foundation of the Atlas Network, 1981, the Ronald Reagan government (Republican Party) began in the United States, characterized by the defense of the free market, deregulation of the economy, tax cuts and budget reduction. of social programs. In summary, a program to downsize the State, with the exception of the military budget, which grew significantly in the 1980s.

The Reagan government (1981-1989), in tune with ultraliberal conceptions, contributed significantly to the strengthening of the American right, not only for its economic policy, which became known as Reaganomics, as well as the resumption of the arms race and the anti-communist discourse. For those who don't remember, Reagan called the former Soviet Union "the evil empire".

Regarding the funding of the Atlas Network, as stated in the website, the organization does not receive government funding, only private funding: from corporations, foundations or individual donations. It is registered as a non-profit organization. Therefore, all donations made in the United States are tax deductible.[4] Among the sponsors of the Atlas Network are the Koch brothers, American billionaires whose companies operate, among other sectors, with oil and gas.[5] 

Atlas Network has, according to information contained on its website, 465 partners in 95 countries. Most of these organizations are headquartered in the United States, with 168, followed by Europe and Central Asia, with 134, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean with 79.[6]

There are organizations headquartered in cities in Mexico, Central American and Caribbean countries — such as the Bahamas, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama and the Dominican Republic — in addition to all countries in continental South America, with following exceptions: Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname.

Among Latin American countries, those with the highest number of organizations are Argentina, with 12; Brazil, 11; and Chile, with ten. Then appear on the list Peru, with eight; Costa Rica and Mexico, five each; Bolivia, Uruguay and Venezuela, with four in each country. Guatemala appears on the list with three. Ecuador, El Salvador and Dominican Republic, with two each; in addition to the Bahamas, Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama and Paraguay, with one organization each.

In addition to national organizations, it appears as Partner Atlas Network, a supranational organization, Estudiantes por la Libertad (EsLibertad), which is the Latin American branch of the US-based Students For Liberty (SFL). Headquartered in Washington, capital of the United States, the SFL held its first congress in 2008, at Columbia University, in New York, and identifies itself as “the largest libertarian student organization in the world”.[7] There is, in Brazil, a specific organization, Estudantes Pela Liberdade, based in Belo Horizonte.[8]

It is worth noting that the two Puerto Rico-based Atlas Network partner organizations — with names in Spanish: Centro para Renovación Económica, Crecimiento y Excelencia, and Fundación Libertad — are listed among US institutions.

Every year, Atlas Network promotes the Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner event,[9] which is shown in the website:

“The Atlas Network strengthens the worldwide freedom movement by identifying, training and supporting individuals with the potential to found and develop effective independent organizations that advance our vision in every country. […] The Liberty Forum annually brings freedom champions together in a network to exchange ideas and share strategies. The Gala Dinner [Freedom Dinner] serves as a grand finale appropriate for the event, celebrating the heroes of the freedom movement and the principles that Friends of Atlas Network are spreading around the world.”[10]

Regarding Atlas Network's support to partner organizations, it is stated that:

“With modest resources available for grants [grants], we can only fund a fraction of the proposals we receive. […] Atlas Network-sponsored grants can support specific projects or provide operational support to partner organizations. This support is normally awarded in modest amounts of $5 to $10, and only on rare occasions will it exceed $20.”[11]

As will be seen below, in the case of Brazil, donations in the years 2015 and 2016 far exceeded 20 dollars.

In Atlas Network partner organizations, the “principles”, “values” or “mission” include, virtually without variation, the defense of free enterprise, the free market, entrepreneurship, individual responsibility, private property, individual freedoms, of meritocracy and the limitation of government action.

Some of these organizations aim at training individuals to be multipliers of their principles and, in some cases, training business leaders. Ultraliberal perspectives are not always made explicit, even if very frequently, in most organizations.

Our sites From these organizations, the two greatest exponents of the so-called “Austrian School of Economics”, Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) are frequently cited — mainly his book Human action: a treatise on economics, 1940 (1949 English edition) — and Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992), whose most cited work is The Path of SerfdomOf 1944.

Also highly cited are Ayn Rand and Murray N. Rothbard. Born in Tsarist Russia in 1905, the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand is the author, among other works, of the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged, from 1957, published in Brazil with the title Atlas Shrugged, in which the author makes an emphatic defense of individualism and free competition, and a vehement rejection of the welfare state model.[12] Murray N. Rothbard, in turn, became known, from the 1940s onwards, for his defense of what came to be known as anarcho-capitalism, that is, an economic system in which all services, products and spaces would be private — both by individual and collective initiative — and disputed in free competition, including public safety, defense and justice.

The defenders of these individualist ideas of denial of the State call themselves “anarcho-capitalist libertarians”, representatives of the “new libertarian right” and of “libertarianism”.[13] Rothbard is the author, among other works, of For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, whose first edition dates back to 1973. Obviously, the meaning of the word “libertarian” is not linked to what was historically given to it by anarchist movements, linked to the struggle of workers for rights and better living conditions, but to the meaning given to it. give the ultraliberal movements, from the economic conceptions of the “Austrian School” and the “Chicago School of Economics”, whose greatest exponent is Milton Friedman, or the “anarcho-capitalists”.

No website of the Atlas Network, there is the following explanation of the coincidence of names between the organization and the well-known book by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged:

“The name was not derived from the book. Indeed, the word 'Atlas' in our name speaks to the global nature of our work. And while we share many of the free market values ​​found in Atlas Shrugged and maintained by the Atlas Society and the Ayn Rand Institute, we are separate organizations.”[14]

I consider, however, to be indisputable that the popularity of Ayn Rand's book and shared values ​​make this association all but inevitable.

The president of Atlas Network since 1991 is Alejandro Antonio Chafuen, an Argentine who lives in the United States. Known as Alex Chafuen, he is also founder and chairman of the Board of the Hispanic American Center For Economic Research (HACER), a foundation created in 1996, headquartered in Washington, DC, which is dedicated to promoting ultraliberal ideas in Hispanic America and among Hispanic Americans living in the United States.[15]

Chafuen joined Atlas Network in 1985 and worked closely with founder Antony Fisher. According to a consistent article by journalist Marina Amaral, published in the agency Public on June 23, 2015, Chafuen would be linked to Opus Dei, as well as a Tea Party sympathizer, an ultra-liberal-conservative tendency within the Republican Party — ultra-liberal in economics and conservative in terms of social, religious and moral issues.[16]

As already mentioned, Chafuen is Argentinian. In Buenos Aires, one of the North American Atlas partner organizations is the Fundación Atlas para una Sociedad Libre, founded in 1998 and also known as Atlas 1853, in reference to the year of approval of the liberal Argentine Constitution. In your website, it is stated that “Atlas 1853 resumes the legacy of Juan Bautista Alberdi as the inspiration for the Constitution of 1853, which allowed — in just over half a century — the desert that was Argentina at that time to become the 10th country with the higher income per capita of the planet.”[17]

The Argentinean ultraliberals of the end of the XNUMXth century and beginning of the XNUMXst century return, in their own way, to Alberdi and Sarmiento, in a reinterpretation of the Argentinean liberal thought of the XNUMXth century.[18]

Atlas Network partner organizations in Brazil

In Brazil, the 11 organizations that appear in the website from Atlas Network as partners are the following: three in Rio de Janeiro: Interdisciplinary Center for Ethics and Personal Economics (CIEEP), Instituto Liberal (IL) and Instituto Millenium (Imil); three in São Paulo: Leaders Training Institute – São Paulo (IFL-SP), Liberal Institute of São Paulo (ILISP) and Ludwig von Mises Brasil Institute (Mises Brasil); two in Belo Horizonte: Students for Freedom (EPL) and Leaders Training Institute (IFL); two in Porto Alegre: Institute of Business Studies (IEE) and Instituto Liberdade (IL-RS); and one in Vitória (ES): Instituto Líderes do Amanhã.[19]

The presence of the same people in several of these organizations is noteworthy, including businessmen — who are often sponsors of these institutes, that is, donors of resources, such as individuals or companies — and the so-called “specialists”: economists, journalists, scientists politicians, jurists, “consultants” etc. These are people who work, at the same time, in corporate media press bodies, generally as columnists, and in liberal or ultraliberal organizations, in addition to actively participating in the events of these organizations, giving lectures, courses, etc.

Just take a look at the websites of several of these organizations, including Instituto Millenium — the think tanks more directly linked to Brazilian media companies — to verify this recurrence of names.

Most of these Latin American ultraliberal organizations are affiliated to the Red Liberal de América Latina – Relial. Relial was created in 2004 and gathers not only think tanks as liberal political parties in Latin America. In the case of Brazil, the organizations affiliated to Relial are the Instituto Liberal (IL), created in Rio de Janeiro in 1983, the Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (IEE) and the Instituto Liberdade (IL-RS).[20] Relial's vice-president is, as stated in the website of the organization, Ricardo Gomes, who is also a member of the IEE's Deliberative Council.

In Brazil, there is also an organization that brings together think tanks and other ultraliberal organizations operating in the country. It is Rede Liberdade, which presents itself as follows:

“We are the national network of liberal and libertarian organizations that influence public policies, through our own projects or those of our members. Rede Liberdade coordinates its members, in a decentralized manner, and aims to enhance the dissemination and effective impact, among opinion makers, of ideas and initiatives aimed at less state intervention in the economy and society.”[21]

Rede Liberdade brings together 28 institutes, in addition to 20 study groups or nuclei, located in states in all regions of Brazil. Some of these institutes are well known and have been operating in their cities for several years, such as the aforementioned Instituto de Estudos Empresariais, Instituto Liberal, Instituto Millenium and Estudantes Pela Liberdade. Rede Liberdade, in addition to the most established and well-known organizations, brings together organizations such as the Movimento Enreta Brasil (MEB – São Paulo), which actively participated, in networks and on the streets, in the mobilization in favor of impeachment by Dilma Rousseff.

Most of these organizations emerged in the last five or ten years, although some of them (IEE or IL, for example) were created in the 1980s. That is, in the years of the Lula and Dilma governments there was a proliferation, in Brazil, of organizations that defend the minimal State or the downsizing of the State, with greater or lesser structure of action.

It is worth noting that, on a visit to the website Atlas Network in May 2016, I found that there were 76 partner organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, exactly one more than those listed in the website on the day of my presentation at the XII International Meeting of ANPHLAC, which took place two months later, on July 28th. Among the 76 was the Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL), which, in July, no longer appeared on the list of partners. Nothing, of course, is by chance. There was probably a deliberate decision to hide the MBL from the list of partners during the voting period impeachment of President Dilma in the Senate.

There are close, proven links between ultraliberal Brazilians who led the pro-liberal mobilization.impeachment of Dilma — young and not so young — with the Atlas Network and other North American organizations.

The MBL — which, as is well known, played an important role in organizing acts in favor of the impeachment de Dilma — originates from Students For Liberty (SFL), founded in 2008 at Columbia University, whose mission is to “empower young liberal students” or “libertarian” student leaders, and in the branch of the SFL in Brazil, the organization Estudantes Pela Liberdade (EPL), headquartered in Belo Horizonte.

In November 2015, the First National Congress of the MBL was held, when proposals were approved in the areas of education, health, sustainability, political reform, economy, justice, transport and urbanism. Without space to detail the proposals, I highlight only one of them: “End of the social function of property. Private property cannot be relativized.”[22]

Students For Liberty has close links with the Atlas Network, which provides training programs, courses and financial support to develop young leaders of the “freedom movement” on all continents.

I will make, from this part of the text, some brief considerations on some of these partner organizations of the Atlas Network in Brazil.

The Instituto de Estudos Empresariais, headquartered in Porto Alegre, was founded in 1984 and has held the Freedom Forum annually since 1988. Among the sponsors are the Gerdau Group, which also sponsors the Millenium Institute, the RBS media group, etc. . And there is a partnership with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), in whose Events Center the Freedom Forum is held.

At 29.a edition of the Forum, held in April 2016 at the PUCRS Events Center (CEPUC), the theme chosen was “Who moves the world?”, inspired by the novel Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. One of the main names at the event was Yaron Brook, president of The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), headquartered in Irvine, California.[23]

The Millenium Institute's partnership with the Atlas Network reveals the bonds of think tanks North American with the Brazilian corporate media. Among the sponsors of Instituto Millenium (Imil), there are groups Abril and RBS (affiliated with Rede Globo in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul). Grupo Estado, which publishes the newspaper The State of S. Paul, appeared among the “maintainers and partners” of Imil until 2016. And, among the members of the “Chamber of Maintainers”, are João Roberto Marinho (Grupo Globo) and Nelson Sirotsky (Grupo RBS); businessmen from the financial sector — such as Arminio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank from 1999 to 2002, during the second government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso — as well as other businessmen from different sectors of the economy.[24]

According to the website do Imil, the institute was founded in 2005, with the initial name of Instituto da Realidade Nacional, by the economist Patrícia Carlos de Andrade, and made official in 2006, during the Freedom Forum, in Porto Alegre, organized by the IEE.

No website of Imil, the realization of the 29.a edition of the Freedom Forum. On the occasion, the Millenium Institute informed that, in addition to supporting the event, “it organized the Portuguese edition of the book Atlas Shrugged, released in 2010 by Arqueiro”.

Among the “experts” of the Millenium Institute, in addition to economists, political scientists and intellectuals recognized in academia, there are journalists and columnists who have openly defended the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff. One of them is Leandro Narloch, who was a columnist for the magazine Veja (Grupo Abril) from December 2014 to November 2016, coinciding with the period of the campaign for impeachment by Dilma Rousseff (her column was entitled “Caçador de Mitos”), and, since December 2016, she has been writing a column in Folha de S. Paul.[25]

Also appearing on the list of “experts” is veteran journalist José Nêumanne Pinto, columnist for The State of S. Paul (OESP), and, like the newspaper for which he works — which was clearly evidenced by the editorials —, he was in favor of the impeachment from Dilma. On March 10, 2016, it was published in website do Imil an article by Nêumanne Pinto published in OESP the day before — just four days before the big demonstrations on Sunday, March 13th, in favor of impeachment —, entitled “The government against the law”, in very hard opposition to the president. At a certain point in the article, Nêumanne makes a laudatory mention of the “international agreement that incorporated Brazil into the First World in the fight against corruption”.[26]

The Millenium Institute and the impeachment

Some names that appeared as Imil “experts” in 2016 no longer appear on the list in February 2017. Among these are the names of Carlos Alberto Sardenberg, Demétrio Magnoli, Denis Rosenfield and Marco Antonio Villa, all with ample space in the media . Other names, such as Arnaldo Jabor and Reinaldo Azevedo, collaborated with the Institute, with articles and/or participation in events.

It can be assumed that Imil preferred, in an attempt to maintain its image as a technical and non-partisan organization, to exclude from the list some names that were very marked by the defense of impeachment from Dilma. However, names such as economist Rodrigo Constantino and Hélio Beltrão, founder-president of Mises Brasil, remained on the list of “experts”.

Finally, there are many collaborators of the Millenium Institute who played an active role in the destabilization process of the Dilma government: liberal economists with columns in newspapers, businessmen favorable to the impeachment, journalists with space in the corporate media, etc.

No website of the Atlas Network, an article by Rodrigo Constantino was published on March 24, 2016, entitled: “Government corruption in Brazil presents both risks and opportunities”. The text is illustrated with a photo of the mass dressed in green and yellow that participated, on March 13, in the demonstration in favor of the impeachment of Dilma in Brasilia. Constantino is introduced as “president of Instituto Liberal and founding member of Instituto Millenium, both partners of the Atlas Network in Brazil”.[27]

In addition to being sponsored by companies, the Millenium Institute received, in 2009, the certification of Civil Society Organization of Public Interest (Oscip), granted by the Ministry of Justice, which allows Imil to receive deductible donations from the Income Tax of legal entities of up to 2%.

It is unnecessary to expose here the absolutely central role played by the major Brazilian media companies in the destabilization of Dilma Rousseff's government, starting in June 2013 and, particularly, during the campaign for impeachment of the president, from the beginning of his second term, in 2015.

It is worth mentioning that, in 2013, members of these ultraliberal organizations began their participation in street demonstrations, as shown in the aforementioned article by Marina Amaral. The journalist interviewed members of Movimento Brasil Livre and Vem Pra Rua, who confirmed the beginning of participation in street acts in June 2013, but that the problem, at that time, was the diversity of agendas. The interviewees stated that it was only from March 2015 onwards that they were able to put their ultraliberal agendas on the streets, for example, on posters that read “Less Marx, More Mises”.[28]

Also noteworthy is the opportunism of the Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL), which, evidently, was inspired by the name of the Movimento Passe Livre (MPL), which was of great importance in triggering the demonstrations in June 2013, in defense of the improvement and of free public transport, that is, a leftist agenda, totally contrary to that of the MBL, which is privatist and defends the minimal State. If MBL members acted as Students for Liberty, their affiliation with Students For Liberty would be explicit. Hence the creation of the Movimento Brasil Livre in November 2014, shortly after the re-election of President Dilma.

No website Atlas Network, there is a text about Kim Kataguiri and the Movimento Brasil Livre, published on April 1, 2015, that is, one year before the vote for the admissibility of the process of impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in the Chamber of Deputies, which took place on April 17, 2016.

The article has the following title: “Students For Liberty play an important role in the Free Brazil Movement”. This is how the text presents Kataguiri:

“At the head of the [MBL] movement is Kim Kataguiri, an emerging libertarian star who works with Students For Liberty, Partner from the Atlas Network. […] Many members of the Free Brazil Movement have gone through Atlas Network's flagship training program, the Atlas Leadership Academy, and are now applying what they learned where they live and work. 'The Atlas Leadership Academy offers a variety of training programs focused on developing missions, knowing how to reach your audience and the importance of achieving impact,' says Cindy Cerquitella, Director of Atlas Leadership Academy. 'It was exciting to work with defenders of freedom in Brazil and in 90 countries around the world, and even more exciting was watching them put these lessons into practice'.”[29]

The photograph that illustrates the text shows Kim Kataguiri in the front and, in the background, a digital screen with the image of former president Lula.[30]

Students For Liberty in the United States has links not only with Estudantes Pela Liberdade – Brasil (EPL) and the Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL), but also with another Brazilian organization called Instituto Ordem Livre.

In the case of the EPL, one can read the following in the website:

“The history of Estudantes Pela Liberdade began in 2010 as a blog in which Juliano Torres and Anthony Ling wrote content. The first project was 'Estudos Pela Liberdade' in the form of an academic journal. At that time, two groups were part of the organization: Círculo de Estudos Roberto Campos and Círculo Bastiat, one at URGS [sic] and another at Faculdade Pitágoras.”[31]

What caught my attention was the fact that, in the excerpt above, the acronym of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) appears without the “F” for Federal, as if to hide its nature as a public university (or, what it seems to me less likely that it was a simple oversight).

Following the presentation on the EPL, it is stated that, “in 2012, at the Instituto Ordem Livre Summer Seminar organized by Diogo Costa, Magno Karl and Elisa Martins”, it was decided to create the EPL.

On the trajectory of the EPL, the website brings the following information:

“The small project made a leap in 2014, when it had an impact in all states of Brazil, with the participation of 600 volunteer leaders. […] Since its founding, the organization has held around 650 events in public and private educational institutions. […] We have already trained students from 357 universities, and with the mentorship of the organization, more than 200 study groups were created in educational institutions. Through our projects, we seek to promote ideas such as entrepreneurship among young students, a plural debate of ideas, and through education, create a generation of future leaders. As we are a non-partisan and non-profit organization, we seek to develop projects that bring about changes in the student environment without involvement with third-party interests, always respecting our values ​​and mission.”[32]

No website of the EPL, the following numbers also appear, calculated on February 14, 2017: “3.463 people trained, 298 universities, 235 groups already created, 27 projects funded” in five years.[33] There is, of course, no way to attest to the veracity of these numbers.

But it is worth asking: who finances Students for Freedom so that it can fulfill its “mission”, that is, “empowering student leaders”? and, evidently, “leaders” defenders of “libertarianism”, the name they use to refer to ultraliberalism? At the website a list of “supporters” appears: Instituto Ludwig von Mises Portugal; Friedrich Naumann Institute for Freedom, created in 1992 in São Paulo (a branch of the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit – FNF, a liberal foundation based in Germany); Bunker Editorial (which publishes the Students for Liberty Collection),[34] the companies Pipedrive and Salesforce (whose headquarters are North American) and the Atlas Network, the main supporter.

In the EPL audit, available on the internet, about the first two years of the organization, the following information appears: “there was no income”. In 2012 and 2013, the total amount of expenses presented — BRL 29.199,37 in 2012 and BRL 46.780,96 in 2013 — would have been paid by Juliano Torres, EPL's CEO. In 2014, the year in which there was a joint event between the EPL and Instituto Ordem Livre, R$ 36.467,46 would have been paid by Juliano Torres (he appears, in the accounts, as a creditor of the EPL and also as a recipient of significant amounts reimbursed ). In addition to this amount, in 2014, the audit lists the following organizations as donors: approximately R$ 56 thousand reais donated by The Atlas Economic, that is, The Atlas Economic Research Foundation, the Atlas Network; R$9 donated by the Friedrich Naumann Institute for Freedom; and amounts of R$30 and R$3.500 that are included as “confidential donor” payments. The total amount of expenses in 2014 was R$ 122.305,48. In 2015, expenses rose significantly, to a total of R$ 261.596,55. Again, there were significant donations from the Atlas Network, more than R$82, in addition to more than R$58 donated by Students For Liberty. In 2016, the total amount of expenses rose to R$ 306.737,05. Again, Atlas Network's donations were significant: more than R$ 139 thousand reais. From Students For Liberty, EPL received BRL 36.430 and, from “confidential” donors, more than BRL 150. There are, among the latter, donations of broken values. One of them in the amount of R$72.755,78, which clearly indicates that it was a donation in foreign currency.[35]

The above information clearly demonstrates that Estudantes Pela Liberdade – EPL received funds from abroad, mainly from the United States (Atlas Network and Students For Liberty). Expenses increased more than 10 times between 2012, when the EPL was created, and 2016, from around R$29 to over R$300. Given the links between the Movimento Brasil Livre and the Atlas Network, Students For Liberty, Estudantes Pela Liberdade and Instituto Ordem Livre, resources were most likely transferred from the Atlas Network and the SFL to the MBL, used in the campaign on the internet and in the organization of the events to be held. favor of impeachment of President Dilma, held in 2015 and 2016. I emphasize that, in a text already mentioned, published in website of the Atlas Network, it is stated that Kim Kataguiri “works with Students For Liberty, Partner of the Atlas Network”. The amounts donated to the EPL and MBL by foreign organizations may even have been higher, but I could not find other sources to verify this data.

In another text published in website Atlas, on August 6, 2015, entitled “Freedom movements explode among Brazilian students”, claims that Kim Kataguiri is a “member of the EPL”. In this article, there is a quote from Kataguiri — “we defend free markets, lower taxes and the privatization of all public companies” — and a photo of him with Fábio Ostermann (member of Instituto Ordem Livre), in New York, after a Atlas Network event.[36] It is worth searching for “Brazil” in the search engine on website from the Atlas Network. Several articles about Atlas partner organizations in Brazil can be found.

The funding of organizations

One wonders why the EPL published the audit on the internet. The EPL received donations from individuals and companies, through various means, including electronic payment, and probably needed to publish the organization's accounting, to avoid possible legal problems.

In the case of the Free Brazil Movement, it appears, in the website, link to the store on line, with products such as a T-shirt with the phrase “Brazil won the PT”; the “Pixuleco” doll, which represents former President Lula “dressed” as a prisoner; in addition to a cap with the phrase “Make South America Great Again”, inspired by the slogan of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, president-elect of the United States in 2016.

It is worth noting that the same slogan it was used for the first time in the victorious presidential campaign of ex-president Ronald Reagan, admired by ultraliberals, in 1980. 14, was printed on t-shirts by MBL, which are sold in website of the organization. In addition to store resources, MBL also receives donations electronically. But there is no reference to any accounting or auditing.

It is important to make some observations about the founders of Estudantes Pela Liberdade and Instituto Ordem Livre, both organizations, as already explained, linked to the Atlas Network: Juliano Torres (CEP director of the EPL), Anthony Ling, Diogo Costa, Magno Karl and Elisa Lucena Martins.

Journalist Marina Amaral interviewed Juliano Torres by telephone for the aforementioned article. The reproduction, by Amaral, of Torres' speech is blunt and leaves no room for doubt:

“When there were protests in 2013 for the Free Pass, several members of Students for Freedom wanted to participate, but, as we receive funds from organizations like Atlas and Students For Liberty, for income tax reasons there, they didn’t may develop political activities. So we said: EPL members can participate as individuals, but not as an organization, to avoid problems. So we decided to create a brand, it wasn't an organization, it was just a brand for us to sell ourselves in demonstrations like Movimento Brasil Livre. So I, Fábio [Ostermann], joined Felipe França, who is from Recife and São Paulo, plus four, five people, we created the logo, the Facebook campaign. And then the demonstrations ended, the project ended. And we were looking for someone to take over, there were already more than 10 thousand likes on page, flyers. And then we found Kim [Kataguiri] and Renan [Haas], who finally gave an incredible turn to the movement with the marches against Dilma and things like that. By the way, Kim is a member of the EPL, so he was trained by the EPL as well. And most of the local organizers are EPL members. They act as members of the Movimento Brasil Livre, but they were trained by us, in leadership courses. Kim is even going to participate now in a philanthropic poker tournament that Students For Liberty organizes in New York to raise funds. He will be a speaker. And also at the international conference in February, he will be a speaker.”

Juliano Torres was trained at Atlas Network, as were other members of the EPL, Ordem Livre and Movimento Brasil Livre. According to Marina Amaral, Torres would have said, about Atlas' training and courses:

“There's one they call an MBA, there's training in New York too, training online. We recommend that all people who work in positions of more responsibility [in the EPL] undergo Atlas training as well.”[37]

Within the organizational framework of Students For Liberty, there are several Brazilians who are associates or coordinators of SFL programs in Brazil: André Freo, Bernardo Shamash, Bernardo Vidigal, Edson Lima Lemos, Fernando Henrique Miranda, Ivanildo Terceira and Mariana Matos.[38]

Another Brazilian active in ultraliberal organizations is Elisa Lucena Martins. She was one of the organizers, along with Diogo Costa and Magno Karl, of the 2012 Summer Seminar, in Petrópolis, at the Free Order Institute, an event that gave rise to Students for Freedom. Bachelor in Economics from the Federal University of Santa Maria (RS), Elisa Martins is presented as “Director of Institute Relations and Programs” at Atlas Network. She began her participation at Atlas in 2010 as a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow, that is, a fellow at the Charles Koch Institute. OrdemLivre.org is presented as an “Atlas Network platform in Portuguese language”. Elisa Martins is also on the list of “experts” at Instituto Millenium.[39]

Like Elisa Martins, Diogo Costa is on the list of “experts” at Millenium. He also holds the presidency of Instituto Ordem Livre and is a member of the Advisory Board of Students for Liberty. Graduated in Law from the Catholic University of Petrópolis, Costa did an internship at the Cato Institute, another powerful think tanks North American that provides support to liberal and ultraliberal organizations and leaders in several countries, in addition to being one of the most important partners of the Atlas Network.[40]   

Another frequent name in these organizations is Fábio Ostermann, already mentioned, who also did training and participated in events in the United States, on the Atlas Network. At the website of Atlas, there is the following description of Ostermann, in the section :

“Fabio Ostermann is a 30-year-old political scientist [he turned 32 on 30/08/2016]. He has a Bachelor of Laws and a Masters in Political Science. Ostermann is a graduate of the Atlas Leadership Academy and has been involved with leading free market initiatives in his country, Brazil, since he came out as a libertarian ('liberal' in Brazilian terminology) over a decade ago. He is currently a member of the board of the Movimento Brasil Livre (Free Brazil Movement), the main civil society group that acts in opposition to the current [President Dilma's] socialist government [sic] in Brazil."[41]

on your own website, Ostermann, among other information, is presented as follows:

“He was a Fellow at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (Washington, DC), Executive Director of the Instituto Liberdade, Director of Training and Audit Committee member of the Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (IEE), co-founder of the Students for Freedom network, having been the first president of its Council Advisory Board, Executive Director of Instituto Ordem Livre and National Coordinator of Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL), an entity of which he was the founder, and Executive Director of the Educational Foundation of the Social Liberal Party (PSL). He is a Professor (licensed) at Faculdade Campos Salles, honorary associate of the IEE, member of Grupo Pensar + and State President of Livres-PSL / RS.”[42]

Fábio Ostermann was a candidate for mayor of Porto Alegre in 2016, for the Social Liberal Party (PSL). He obtained only 7.054 votes, 0,99% of the total valid votes, having been in 6th place, but he was able to insert liberal and ultraliberal ideas in the electoral debate. He is currently dedicated to organizing Livres, the “liberal and libertarian tendency” of the PSL.[43]

In April 2015, the president of Atlas Network, Alejandro Chafuen, was in Brazil. On the 12th, he participated in the demonstration for impeachment of Dilma in Porto Alegre and published, on his facebook page, a photo of him, dressed in a shirt from the Brazilian Football Confederation – CBF, in the company of Fábio Ostermann. The photo was reproduced in the aforementioned article by Marina Amaral. On the following two days, Chafuen participated, as a guest, in the 28th Freedom Forum, held by the IEE.

Among the speakers were several of the names mentioned above: in addition to Chafuen, Demétrio Magnoli, Diogo Costa, Hélio Beltrão, Kim Kataguiri and Rodrigo Constantino. Other well-known names participated in the Forum panels: Senator Ronaldo Caiado (DEM-Goiás), State Deputy Marcel van Hattem (PP-RS) and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (Colombian journalist and diplomat, one of the authors of the Handbook of the Latin American Perfect Idiot, a sort of anti-left satirical pamphlet, published in 1996). During the 28th Forum, journalist William Waack, from Grupo Globo, received the Freedom of the Press award, granted by the IEE.[44]

About the Free Brazil Movement, it is important to add that, despite defeats in majoritarian elections, it has already won some electoral victories. At the website of the MBL, there are, as parliamentarians linked to the movement, a federal deputy, Paulo Eduardo Martins (PSDB-PR), and eight councilors, elected in three municipalities of São Paulo (São Paulo, Americana and Rio Claro), two gauchos (Porto Alegre and Sapiranga ), two from Paraná (Londrina and Maringá) and one from Sergipe (Aracaju), for the following parties: four for PSDB, in addition to DEM (Fernando Holiday, in the city of São Paulo, constant presence in demonstrations in favor of impeachment Dilma), PRB, PV and PEN.[45] 

I will also make brief references to the Leaders Training Institute of São Paulo (IFL-SP), which promotes the Freedom and Democracy Forum. In its 3rd edition, held in the city of São Paulo on October 22, 2016, two awards were announced: Deltan Dallagnol, Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, received the “2016 Freedom Award”, “in the name of strength -task responsible for Operation Lava Jato”.

The evidence about the convergence between Operation Lava Jato and the interests, albeit circumstantial and opportunistic, of the political and social sectors favorable to the impeachment of Dilma are countless. This award is just one more. The second winner of the event was Fernando Holiday,[46] of the MBL, which received the “Luís Gama Award – 2016”, for having been “one of the protagonists of the street movements that led the protests in favor of the impeachment, more freedom, less state intervention and an end to corruption”.[47]

The Bahian Luiz Gama (1830-1882),[48] black like Fernando Holiday from São Paulo, he was a republican, during the monarchy, and a member of the Liberal Party. But he was mainly known as one of the most important abolitionists of the 2016th century. The councilor elected in XNUMX, however, rejects historical demands of the black movement in Brazil, among them, the policy of reserving vacancies for blacks and indigenous people in universities and public tenders (racial quotas) and other affirmative action policies.

Using the name of Luiz Gama to honor a young politician who, although black, has no connection with any organization of the black movement and who stands in favor of the “revocation of Black Consciousness Day” is, evidently, an undue appropriation and opportunistic, to say the least.[49]

Regarding the 3rd Freedom and Democracy Forum, one cannot ignore the invitation made to federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro (PSC-RJ) — of obvious ideological affiliation to the authoritarian right, with an often truculent, misogynistic, homophobic and racist speech — to participate in the 1st panel, entitled “The role of the State in the XNUMXst century”.

In addition to the deputy, Senator Ana Amélia Lemos (PP-RS) and Fábio Ostermann were invited to the debate, the latter as a representative of ultraliberal thought. The debate was mediated by Hélio Beltrão, from the Mises Brasil Institute. Right at the beginning, when introducing the panel members, the mediator stated that the debate would make it possible to mark the “differences between the right and the liberals”, obviously referring to Bolsonaro as the representative of the right.

The deputy's participation made it clear that the intention of the invitation was exactly this: to mark the differences between the liberal right and the extreme right, and the positions of Senator Ana Amélia were clearly closer to those expressed by Ostermann.[50]

The most controversial topics addressed in the panel were those related to Bolsonaro's statements in defense of the military regime and the words that the deputy pronounced when voting, in the plenary of the Chamber, in favor of the admissibility of the process of impeachment by President Dilma Rousseff, on April 17, 2016.

In that historic session, and at the same time regrettable, Bolsonaro uttered the following words:

“[…] They lost in 64, they lost now in 2016. For the family and for the innocence of children in the classroom, which the PT never had [sic]; against communism; for our freedom; against the São Paulo Forum; for the memory of Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, the fear of Dilma Rousseff; by the Army of Caxias; by our Armed Forces; for a Brazil above all and for God above all, my vote is yes.”[51]

The federal deputy, in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, honored Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, who died in October 2015. Ustra served as director of the Information Operations Detachment – ​​Internal Defense Operations Center (DOI-CODI) of São Paulo , a body subordinated to the Army, between September 1970 and January 1974, and was recognized by the Justice as a torturer of political prisoners during the military dictatorship.[52]

In the debate, Ostermann reinforced all the positions of the ultraliberals: he declared that “an efficient state is a reduced state” and criticized the “perverse incentives of the welfare state”. But he firmly demarcated his differences with Bolsonaro, saying that “being proud of the military dictatorship” and “defending torturers” was “shameful”.[53]

The IFL-SP invitation to Jair Bolsonaro, as well as Hélio Beltrão's question about the deputy's positions on the military dictatorship and torture, can be interpreted as an attempt by the ultraliberals to mark their differences with the extreme right. However, a stage was given to the deputy, who had the support of a significant part of the audience.

At various times during the debate, it was possible to hear applause for Bolsonaro and shouts of “myth, myth, myth”. Inviting Bolsonaro meant, in practice, that the members of the IFL-SP considered the deputy a debater who deserved to be heard and who, in some way, was up to the political debate they wanted to promote. If the intention was, on the contrary, to expose Bolsonaro to the contradictory to disqualify him, the result was not what the organizers expected, given the support shown by a portion of the audience.

It is important to note that Hélio Beltrão made a point of stating that those invited to the panel were “united against the left of recent governments”. And that, at another time, he questioned “what we can do together” to avoid the return to power of “this left that is wanting to come back”. That is, Beltrão and Ostermann marked the differences in relation to several of Bolsonaro's positions, but did not rule out a possible alliance between the liberal right and the authoritarian right to defeat the greater "enemy": the left. As, incidentally, happened in 2016, in the alliances that were formed to overthrow President Dilma and defeat the Workers' Party.

Final considerations

The documentary sources used in this text — pages of organizations and think tanks on the internet, interviews and articles by members — allow demonstrating the close articulation between liberal and ultraliberal organizations in the United States, Brazil and other Latin American countries, in addition to connections with institutes and foundations in European countries.

It is also possible to see that networks were formed between these organizations that make possible not only the production and circulation of texts and the debate between formulators of liberal and ultraliberal ideas, but also effective support for the creation and strengthening of new organizations in a growing number of countries. and cities.

These networks are also articulated to support political actions, although this is often not made explicit. This support takes the form of training new political leaders, generally under the age of 30 or 40, and financial donations (transparent or otherwise).

The adoption by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation of the “fancy name” Atlas Network in 2013 was therefore timely, as the organization's aim is to effectively foster the creation and support of liberal and ultraliberal organizations across the globe (Atlas), working in network (Network).

It is also possible to observe the participation of the same people in several of these organizations at the same time, both Brazilian and, in some cases, foreign, particularly from the United States.

However, I believe that one cannot overestimate the political strength of these ultraliberal organizations, in Brazil and in other Latin American countries, where they act in a similar way, with greater or lesser strength and/or penetration in society, with the aim of influencing disputes of opinion in the public sphere.

I make this statement because, in countries with such high proportions of the population that need public services, the defense of downsizing the State, including in essential areas such as education and health, provokes significant resistance.

But if it is not possible to overestimate the power of these organizations and think tanks defenders of privatizations, of a lean State or even of the minimal State, it is possible to confirm its growth, both in number (of organizations and members) and in penetration in the public debate.

The ties of these liberal and ultraliberal organizations, both national and foreign, mainly North American, with some of the most powerful media corporations in Brazil (Grupos Globo, Abril, Folha,[54] RBS and Estado), as well as with organizations created with the aim of mobilizing the population in manifestations of opposition to the Workers' Party and in support of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, in 2015 and 2016, as the Movimento Brasil Livre, a kind of militant branch, in Brazil, of Student For Liberty.

On September 6, 2012, in an article published in the magazine capital letter, entitled “Instituto Millenium, media and the lessons of history”, the journalist and former federal deputy for PT from Bahia, Emiliano José, made the following statement:

“Millennium accompanies a coup tradition existing in Brazil, a coup tradition in our old media as well. It does not accept, does not swallow a government that, through democracy, and with parameters different from neoliberalism, is changing Brazil. And will do anything to defeat this project. Of everything."[55]

I emphasize that this article was written in September 2012, that is, nine months before the so-called “June days” of 2013, when an intense process of attrition and destabilization of Dilma Rousseff's government began. However, written in the midst of the spectacularization of the trial initiated in August 2012 at the Federal Supreme Court, AP 470, which became known as the trial of the PT “mensalão”.

Initiatives to create ultra-liberal organizations and parties, such as the New Party and the Libertarians,[56] have intensified in Brazil in recent years, particularly as a reaction to the social-democratic and reformist governments of presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers' Party (PT).

Although representatives of minority views, these organizations have been strengthened. They are organizations that have acted in opposition to elected left-wing, center-left and social-democratic governments, whose policies are not considered “friendly” to the free market and certain interests of the United States.

But these organizations are not just democratic opposition. They have acted, with increasing intensity, with the objective of wearing down, destabilizing and, finally, overthrowing these governments.

The same US organizations that supported the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff support the political sectors of the liberal and ultraliberal right in other Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, etc.[57] And, as in Brazil, they participate (or participated), to a greater or lesser extent, in actions to destabilize left, center-left and social-democratic governments.

In the case of the political-legal process whose objective was to impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, completed on August 31, 2016, the participation of large media companies was central, as well as the action (on the internet and on the streets) of organizations such as MBL and Vem Pra Rua, which had the support, nothing discreet , of the media corporations that created the Millenium Institute.

I cannot help but position myself, in this text, in relation to the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, which I consider the realization of a kind of new “model” of coup d'état, parliamentary-legal-police-media, because there was no proof of a crime of responsibility committed by the deposed president. the whole process of impeachment of Dilma was surrounded by numerous controversies and questions, raised even by a significant number of jurists.

My intention, therefore, was to show, in a brief and preliminary way, some of the connections between organizations of the North American, Brazilian and Hispanic American ultraliberal right. These connections were also established in the promotion of demonstrations and political propaganda in favor of the impeachment from Dilma.

Organizations and foundations with assumed political-ideological positions exist on the left and right of the political spectrum. But what happened in Brazil in 2015 and 2016 were cash donations, as well as training — by foreign organizations, mainly North American — of characters who played a central role in the social mobilization to remove a legitimately elected President of the Republic, without proof of criminal liability.

* Katia Gerab Baggio Professor at the Department of History at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG)

Originally published in Annals of the XII International Meeting of the National Association of Researchers and Professors of History of the Americas (ANPHLAC), on March 20, 2017.

Notes

[1] think tank – expression that can be translated as “thinking center” – is a term created in the United States and used, from the 1950s, to designate organizations that are dedicated to producing and/or disseminating research, ideas and public policy projects (economic policy, foreign policy, social and environmental policies, etc.), with the aim of influencing governments and/or conforming a certain public opinion. In general, they seek to convey a technical image, trying to move away from a strictly ideological identification, even if they clearly defend certain politically and ideologically oriented conceptions. 

[2] It was published in website from Instituto Mises Brasil, on 18/01/2017, an article entitled “In defense of the Ultraliberal”, whose author, Geanluca Lorenzon, is one of the directors of the organization. After making an (unfavorable) reference to the book Historians for Democracy (Eds.: Hebe Mattos, Tânia Bessone and Beatriz G. Mamigonian. São Paulo: Alameda, 2016) — and, without specifying, my text in the collection (“Between 2013 and 2016, from the 'June journeys' to the coup”) —, Lorenzon defends the use of the term ultraliberal to designate defenders of the minimal State. Cf.   http://www.mises.org.br/BlogPost.aspx?id=2612 (accessed on 12/02/2017).

[3] This information about the Atlas Network can be found on the organization's website: https://www.atlasnetwork.org, more specifically at: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/our-story About the name of the organization, see: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/faq#is-atlas-network-a-different-organization-than-the-atlas-economic-research (accessed on 07/02/2017).

[4] See https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/faq#giving-all-you-need-to-know-about-your-donation (accessed on 07/02/2017).

[5] About the Koch brothers, their companies and connections to the movements for freedom impeachment by President Dilma Rousseff, see the article by Antonio Luiz MC Costa published in the magazine capital letter on 23/03/2015: “Who are the Koch brothers?”. Available in: http://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/quem-sao-os-irmaos-koch-2894.html. About the links and contributions of the Koch foundations to the Atlas Network, check out the article by journalist Marina Amaral at the agency Public: "The new outfit on the right". Public, 23/06/2015. Available in: http://apublica.org/2015/06/a-nova-roupa-da-direita/ (last access on 15/02/2017). See also the following web pages of the Koch organizations: https://www.charleskochinstitute.org/ e https://www.charleskochfoundation.org/ (accessed on 15/02/2017).

[6] The list of partners Atlas Network can be found at: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/global-directory (last access on 13/02/2017).

[7] “We are the largest libertarian student organization in the world”. Cf. https://www.studentsforliberty.org/ e https://www.studentsforliberty.org/about/ (accessed on 10/02/2017).

[8] See http://www.epl.org.br/ (accessed on 06/02/2017).

[9] In 2017, the Forum will be in New York, on the 7th and 8th of November. Cf. https://www.atlasnetwork.org/events/liberty-forum-freedom-dinner (accessed on 08/02/2017).

[10] In the original: “Atlas Network strengthens the worldwide freedom movement by identifying, training, and supporting individuals with the potential to found and develop effective independent organizations that promote our vision in every country. […] The annual Liberty Forum brings together amazing freedom champions from this network to exchange ideas and share strategies. The gala Freedom Dinner serves as a fitting grand finale to this conference, celebrating heroes of the freedom movement and the principles that friends of Atlas Network are advancing worldwide.” In: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/events/liberty-forum-freedom-dinner (accessed on 08/02/2017). All translations are by the author of the text.

[11] In the original: “With modest resources available for grants, we can only fund a fraction of the worthy proposals we receive. […] Atlas Network-sponsored grants can support specific projects, or provide general operating support to organizations within the Atlas Network. Support is typically awarded in modest amounts of $5,000 to $10,000, and only on rare occasions will it exceed $20,000. In: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/faq#does-atlas-network-distribute-grants-and-if-so-how (accessed on 08/02/2017).

[12] Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged (1957), had two editions published in Brazil. In the first, in 1987, the book was entitled Who is John Galt? (Editora Expressão Cultura, 1987, 903 p.) and, in the second, Atlas Shrugged. São Paulo: Editora Arqueiro, 2010, 3 volumes (1232 p.).

[13] Cf. Libertarianism. In: OUTHWAITE, William et al. Dictionary of XNUMXth century social thought. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editor, 1996, p. 425-6.

[14] In the original: “The name was not derived from the book. In fact, the word “Atlas” in our name has to do with the global nature of our work. And, although we share many of the free-market values ​​found in Atlas Shrugged and held by the Atlas Society and Ayn Rand Institute, we are separate organizations.” In.: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/faq#was-atlas-network-named-after-the-book-atlas-shrugged-is-it-associated-with Accessed on: 08/02/2017. 

[15] About the Hispanic American Center For Economic Research (HACER), see: http://www.hacer.org/ e http://www.hacer.org/board-of-directors/ Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[16] On the Brazilian “new right”, which has come to lead street movements in recent years, particularly against the Workers’ Party (PT) and in favor of the impeachment by President Dilma Rousseff, see: Marina Amaral. "The new outfit on the right". Public, 23/06/2015. Available in: http://apublica.org/2015/06/a-nova-roupa-da-direita/; “Movimento Brasil Livre – MBL and June 2013. An American franchise after the impeachment is present in the Escola Sem Partido movement. Special interview with Marina Amaral.” In: magazine IHU Online, from Instituto Humanitas Unisinos – IHU, 01/08/2016. Available in:  http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/entrevistas/558321-movimento-brasil-livre-mbl-e-junho-de-2013-uma-franquia-americana-que-depois-do-impeachment-esta-presente-no-movimento-escola-sem-partidoq-entrevista-especial-com-marina-amaral#. See also Patrícia Campos Mello. “Slopes from the right. Liberals, libertarians and conservatives, unite.” Folha de S. Paul, Illustrious, 05/10/2014. Available in: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrissima/188971-inclinacoes-da-direita.shtml; Luiza Villaméa: “How to Overthrow a Government.” Magazine Brazilian, 19/08/2016. Available in: http://brasileiros.com.br/2016/08/como-derrubar-um-governo/; and MELO, Demian Bezerra. “The right takes to the streets: elements for a study of the ideological roots of the Brazilian right”, work presented at the event “Marx and Marxism 2015: Insurrections, past and present”, held in Niterói, at UFF, from August 24 to 28 2015. Available at: http://www.niepmarx.com.br/MM2015/anais2015/mc51/Tc512.pdf Accessed on: 08/02/2017.

[17] In: http://www.atlas.org.ar. Accessed on 14/02/2017.

[18] On the Argentine organization Fundación Atlas para una Sociedad Libre, or Atlas 1853, see: http://www.atlas.org.ar/ Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[19] Information at: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/global-directory/latin-america-and-caribbean/brazil Accessed on: 13/02/2017.

[20] Cf. Relial's website: http://relial.org/ Accessed on: 06/02/2017.

[21] Cf. Rede Liberdade's website: https://redeliberdade.org/#/sobre Accessed on: 08/02/2017.

[22] Proposals approved at the First National Congress of the Free Brazil Movement in November 2015: https://s3-sa-east-1.amazonaws.com/mbl-wordpress-s3/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/26222920/propostas-mbl.pdf Accessed on: 12/02/2017. 

[23] About the IEE, the Freedom Forum and the schedule for its 29th edition, see: http://iee.com.br/; http://forumdaliberdade.com.br/ e http://forumdaliberdade.com.br/edicao-atual/programacao/ About The Ayn Rand Institute, cf. https://www.aynrand.org/ Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[24] Information about Instituto Millenium's sponsors can be found at website from the institute:

http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/institucional/quem-somos/ e http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/camara-de-mantenedores/ (last access on 14/02/2017). About Arminio Fraga's diagnosis and proposals for the Brazilian economic crisis and his opinion on the impeachment by President Dilma, see the interview given on 17/11/2015 to the Folha de S. Paul: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mercado/2015/11/1706617-impeachment-pode-ser-forma-de-destravar-crise-diz-arminio-fraga.shtml Accessed on: 14/02/2017. On Millenium, see also: Luciana Silveira. Fabrication of ideas, production of consensus: a case study of Instituto Millenium. Campinas: UNICAMP, 2013 (Master's Dissertation in Sociology). Available in: http://www.bibliotecadigital.unicamp.br/document/?code=000905162 Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[25] Leandro Narloch was best known as the author of the politically incorrect guide...: of the History of Brazil (2009); From Latin America (2011, co-authored with Duda Teixeira); of world history (2013) and of the Brazilian Economy (2015), all with an ironic tone, simplifications and misinformation, with the aim of endorsing a perspective of history supposedly consistent with the liberal right. The first, in particular, became best sellers. About the book Politically Incorrect Guide to Latin America, see the review by Maria Ligia Coelho Prado, published in the section Alicia, The State of S. Paul, 25/09/2011: http://alias.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,lombroso-oculto-livro-sobre-falsos-herois-latino-americanos-usa-simplificacoes-oportunas-omissoes-e-interpretacoes-discutiveis-avalia-professora-imp-,777219 Accessed on: 08/02/2017.

[26] See http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/artigos/governo-contra-lei/ Accessed on: 08/02/2017.

[27] See https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/government-corruption-in-brazil-presents-both-risks-opportunities Accessed on: 08/02/2017.

[28] AMARAL, Marina. The new outfit on the right. Public, 23/06/2015. http://apublica.org/2015/06/a-nova-roupa-da-direita/ (last access on 15/02/2017).

[29] “Students For Liberty plays strong role in Free Brazil Movement”. In: Atlas Network. Quote in the original: “At the head of the movement is Kim Kataguiri, a rising libertarian star working with Atlas Network partner Students for Liberty. […] Many members within the Free Brazil Movement have passed through Atlas Network's premier training program, the Atlas Leadership Academy, and are now applying what they have learned on the ground where they live and work. “The Atlas Leadership Academy provides diverse trainings with a focus on mission development, knowing how to reach your audience and the importance of achieving impact,” said Cindy Cerquitella, director of Atlas Leadership Academy. “It has been thrilling to work with advocates for liberty in Brazil, and in 90 countries worldwide, and even more exciting to see them putting those lessons into practice.” Cf. https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/students-for-liberty-plays-strong-role-in-free-brazil-movement and Atlas Leadership Academy: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/academy Accessed on: 13/02/2017.

[30] “Students For Liberty plays strong role in Free Brazil Movement”. In: Atlas Network. Cf. https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/students-for-liberty-plays-strong-role-in-free-brazil-movement Accessed on: 13/02/2017. 

[31] Students for Freedom (EPL) in Brazil is headquartered in Belo Horizonte. See: "When It All Began". In: http://www.epl.org.br/sobre/ Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[32] "Trajectory". In: Students for Freedom. http://www.epl.org.br/sobre/ Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[33] Cf. Students for Freedom: http://www.epl.org.br/ Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[34] Cf. or website from Bunker Editorial: http://www.bunkereditorial.com.br/; and the references about the Students for Liberty Collection: http://www.bunkereditorial.com.br/livraria/kit-livros-colecao-estudantes-pela-liberdade-3-volumes.html Accessed on: 14/02/2017.

[35] Accounting for Students for Freedom, carried out by Tax Services Consultoria e Auditoria, from Belo Horizonte, dated 20/12/2016: http://www.epl.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/auditoria.pdf Accessed on: 10/02/2017.

[36] “Liberty movement exploding among Brazilian students”. Cf. https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/liberty-movement-exploding-among-brazilian-students Accessed on: 10/02/2017. 

[37] Cf. AMARAL, Marina. The new outfit on the right. Public, 23/06/2015. http://apublica.org/2015/06/a-nova-roupa-da-direita/ (last access on 15/02/2017).

[38] See https://www.studentsforliberty.org/team/ Accessed on: 10/02/2017. 

[39] About Elisa Lucena Martins, see: Instituto Ordem Livre: http://ordemlivre.org/quem-somos; https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/people/elisa-martins e http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/author/elisa-lucena/ Accessed on: 10/02/2017.

[40] About Diogo GR Costa, see: Instituto Ordem Livre: http://ordemlivre.org/quem-somos and Millenium Institute:  http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/author/diogo-costa/ Accessed on: 10/02/2017. See also the website from the Cato Institute: https://www.cato.org/ e https://www.cato.org/about Accessed on: 10/02/2017.

[41] In the original: “Fabio Ostermann is a 30-year-old political scientist. He is a law graduate and holds a master's degree in political science. Ostermann is an Atlas Leadership Academy graduate and has been involved with the main free-market initiatives in his home country, Brazil, since he found himself to be a libertarian ('liberal' in Brazilian terminology), more than a decade ago. He is currently a member of the board of Movimento Brasil Livre (Free Brazil Movement), the main civil society group active on the opposition to the current socialist government in Brazil.” Cf. Atlas Network – Our People: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/about/people/fabio-ostermann Accessed on: 12/02/2017.

[42] Information at: http://www.fabioostermann.com.br/fabio Accessed on: 15/02/2017.

[43] About Livres, see: http://livres.psl.org.br/ Accessed on: 15/02/2017. 

[44] About the guest speakers at the 28th Freedom Forum, see: http://forumdaliberdade.com.br/28o/ Accessed on: 12/02/2016. At the website of the Freedom Forum, it is possible to consult the schedule of the various editions.

[45] See website from MBL: https://mbl.org.br/parlamentares/ Accessed on: 12/02/2017. 

[46] Fernando Holiday's registered name is Fernando Silva Bispo.

[47] About the IFL-SP, cf. http://iflsp.org/ And about the 3rd Freedom and Democracy Forum, cf. http://forum-liberdade-democracia.loldesign.com.br/ Accessed on: 13/02/2017.

[48] The original spelling of his name was Luiz. And his full name, Luiz Gonzaga Pinto da Gama.

[49] On the proposals of councilor Fernando Holiday (DEM-SP), see: http://www2.camara.leg.br/camaranoticias/noticias/DIREITOS-HUMANOS/505805-REPRESENTANTE-DO-MOVIMENTO-BRASIL-LIVRE-CRITICA-COTAS-DURANTE-COMISSAO-GERAL.html e http://www.jb.com.br/pais/noticias/2017/01/05/vereador-fernando-holiday-vai-propor-fim-de-cotas-para-negros-veja-o-video/ Accessed on: 13/02/2017.

[50] The video of the 1st panel of the 3rd Freedom and Democracy Forum of São Paulo, organized by IFL-SP, can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N0vJ4aBb9g&t=71s (accessed on 06/03/2017).

[51] The video of the speech by deputy Jair Bolsonaro, on April 17, 2016, can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SroqvAT71o0 (accessed on 06/03/2017).

[52] About Ustra, see: http://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2015/10/15/politica/1444927700_138001.html?rel=mas (accessed on 06/03/2017).

[53] Cf.: 1st panel of the 3rd Freedom and Democracy Forum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N0vJ4aBb9g&t=71s (accessed on 06/03/2017).

[54] It is worth mentioning that Judith Brito, superintendent of the newspaper Folha de S. Paul, appears on the list of “experts” of the Millenium Institute (Imil). See: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/expediente/?cmpid=menupe e http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/author/judith-brito/. Among the columnists of Sheet, are the following Imil “experts”: Alexandre Schwartsman, Leandro Narloch, Marcos Troyjo and Samuel Pessôa. Also columnists for the newspaper Demétrio Magnoli are Kim Kataguiri and Reinaldo Azevedo. The coordinator of the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), Kataguiri, is a columnist for Sheet since January 2016. Sheet It also counts, among its columnists, representatives of the left, such as, among others, Guilherme Boulos, member of the National Coordination of the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), since June 2014. However, the liberal orientation of the Folha de S. Paul it goes without saying. As well as its position in favor of the impeachment by Dilma Rousseff. See: http://www.folha.uol.com.br/ (see lists of columnists in each section of the newspaper) and http://www.institutomillenium.org.br/institucional/especialistas/ (accessed on 17/02/2017).

[55] Cf. Emiliano Jose. Millenium Institute, media and the lessons of history. capital letter, 06/09/2012. In: http://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/instituto-millenium-midia-e-as-licoes-da-historia Accessed on: 15/02/2017. 

[56] See http://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/jovens-se-organizam-tentam-criar-legendas-da-nova-direita-4305063 Accessed on: 06/02/2017.

[57] Cf. Marina Amaral's interview with the magazine IHU Online, from Instituto Humanitas Unisinos – IHU, of 01/08/2016, already mentioned: http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/entrevistas/558321-movimento-brasil-livre-mbl-e-junho-de-2013-uma-franquia-americana-que-depois-do-impeachment-esta-presente-no-movimento-escola-sem-partidoq-entrevista-especial-com-marina-amaral# Accessed on: 08/02/2017.

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