Archbridge Welcomes Roberto Salinas-León As Latin America Fellow

The Archbridge Institute is pleased to announce our newest Latin America fellow, Roberto Salinas-León.

Roberto Salinas-León is the director of international affairs for the Universidad de la Libertad in Mexico. He is also president of the Alamos Alliance, an annual symposium that gathers premier scholars and political leaders from Latin America and throughout the world. For more than 30 years, this private gathering has hosted some of the most recognized names and distinguished minds in economics and public policy.

As an Archbridge fellow, Roberto will help us build our academic and policy network through the Alamos Alliance and support our mission to lift barriers in Latin America. He will also play a pivotal role in developing our Latin America Summit after the success of this year’s event in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Roberto is a highly sought-after columnist and commentator for media outlets in the U.S. and Latin America. He has published more than 2,500 editorials (English and Spanish) on public policy topics, including op-ed pieces in The Wall Street Journal, The Journal of Commerce, Investor’s Business Daily, Barrons, and others. He is an occasional commentator for CNN, CNN Latinamerica, CNCB, Reuters, BBC, TV Azteca, and AND40.

He has delivered more than 1,000 public lectures around the world and testified before the U.S. Congress on three occasions. He was named among Mexico’s group of 300 leaders by Líderes Mexicanos.

Roberto holds a B.A. in political economy, history, and philosophy from Hillsdale College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University. He is senior fellow for Latin America at the Atlas Network, senior debate fellow and debate lecturer at the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, and an adjunct fellow of the Cato Institute.

On welcoming Roberto Salinas-León as a Latin America fellow, Archbridge President and CEO Gonzalo Schwarz said:

“After many years of fruitful collaboration, I am excited to have Roberto on board as a Latin America fellow. He is a thought leader on social mobility and human flourishing in the region, and he leads one of the most captivating and relevant policy events that I have ever been part of, the Alamos Alliance. I look forward to collaborating again on that event and our recently established annual Latin America Summit.”

Discover more about Roberto Salinas-León in this interview with Archbridge President and CEO Gonzalo Schwarz:

What are the main geopolitical challenges and opportunities to promoting human flourishing in Latin America?

I see major challenges in keeping the “flames of liberty” alive in the region. While the shift has been dramatic throughout the region, with more market-oriented and pro-freedom regimes in place, it is imperative to sustain the drive and live up to the promise. This requires a great deal of imagination in policy formulation, but also walking the talk with facts, with visible improvements in well-being, and with distribution of opportunities for prosperity to all.

Do you think we are seeing winds of change in the region regarding the adoption of classical liberal ideas and leaders?

Yes, and no. Most of the changes in the region have been borne out of voter disgust with corruption, crime, and highly inefficient governments. The time is now to insist on a different path, on embracing liberty as the best, if only, way to achieve human dignity and individual flourishing. Our storytelling must continue to improve, and we must also be ready to confront and answer any potential setbacks. The main challenge now is to accelerate the winds of change and ensure that they continue to produce the expected fruits in human progress and greater spaces for human freedom.

You are president of the Alamos Alliance, an event that Archbridge is proud to sponsor and that was once described as “one of Nobel laureate Milton Friedman’s favorite retreats.” Can you tell us more about this conference and the impact it has had?

The Alamos Alliance has been fortunate to gather some of the world’s top minds in the world of ideas, including four Nobel Laureates in economics and other highly distinguished figures in the arena of public policy. It is an off-the-record event, featuring some 40+ participants, mostly from the Americas, but also other parts of the world. It has sometimes been described (perhaps erroneously!) as the “Davos of the Desert” in Mexico, given that it usually convenes in the colonial town of Alamos. I feel very fortunate to preside over this organization, and I owe an eternal debt of gratitude for the confidence of our sponsors, our participants, our hosts, and especially our founders—in particular the late, great Clay LaForce, Arnold “Alito” Harberger, and my late dear friend, a fabulous economist and mentor, Manuel Suarez-Mier.

You consulted on the creation of the first North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and even testified before the U.S. Congress. How has North American free trade supported integration and flourishing, and what opportunities, or threats, do you see for the future?

The North American accord, then NAFTA and now USMCA, represents a fascinating story of the enormous benefits of regional integration—supply chains that extend everywhere from Anchorage, Alaska, to Chiapas and the Riviera Maya. No one in their right mind in the 1990s would have dared to anticipate that, 30 years down the road, Mexico would become the number one trading partner of the U.S., selling more to its northern neighbor than any other country in the world, and also buying more from them than any other country in the world. The bilateral trade relationship will very soon hit 1 trillion USD. This is an amazing accomplishment, which reflects the benefits of open trade, regardless of so-called economic asymmetries.

The new challenges involve resisting tariffs and tariff uncertainty, but also exploring how to take the process of integration into new areas—infrastructure development, integrated water markets, open skies, financial market integration, and especially greater human capital integration. For Mexico, there is a dire need to correct the phenomenon known as the “Two Mexicos,” namely, bridge the gap between states that integrated successfully, with corresponding high rates of growth and productive investment (Sonora, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Yucatán) versus those that failed to do so (Chiapas, Tabasco, Michoacan, Guerrero, and others). Another tremendous challenge is to create a regional framework for addressing security concerns, given the expansion of organized crime into politics, business, and supply chains.

Adam Smith emphasized how commerce breeds unison and prosperity among peoples. When trade is free and voluntary, one party benefits only if the other party benefits. So, lots of work ahead for enhancing freer trade and individual flourishing!

Why are you excited to join the Archbridge Institute?

I believe that Archbridge brings a multidisciplinary approach to addressing our most pressing issues in policy and the exchange of ideas—what Deirdre McCloskey has called “humanomics.” The focus on social mobility is a key initiative of the institute, as is the dynamics of the “American Dream.” But this dream should involve all of the Americas, and the institute’s new outreach south of the border is a very welcome effort to expand research and new ideas into a region with vast potential.

Archbridge is also a very cool outfit, with great people and a real feeling of community. The telos of our efforts is human flourishing, and it is refreshing to see that Archbridge has focused on what matters at the end of the day. For these reasons, and more, I am delighted that I have been given the opportunity to join this cause.