Guevara Leaves Hemisphere Group

Former candidate and chief of the Libertarian Movement here, Otto Guevara, has resigned from the Latin American Liberal Network (Relial for its acronym in Spanish), a neo-liberal group consisting of 10 political parties  and 28 political groups in 16 countries.

Guevara, who has presided over the group since 2006, said he was resigning to pursue his political and business goals.

The term "liberal organization" may seem to some foreign residents an odd place for a Libertarian, but the word in Latin America means a democratic movement favoring such issues as free trade and fewer controls over business  than is found in socialist contexts.

In an e-mail to answer La Nacion's question of why he is leaving the hemisphere group, Guevara replied, "It (the presidency of Relial) was demanding too much of my time and I want to concentrate all my efforts on political activities in Costa Rica, as well as professional activities both in Costa Rica and outside."

If the 2014 elections follow the Libertarian pattern of the past several campaigns, Guevara will again be the party's candidate for president. As for professional activities, he is a lawyer and business administrator.

Relial is closely allied with the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, an international group founded in 1958 to promote "liberal democracies," i. e., democracies friendly to private enterprise as well as representative government and civic awareness.

The Libertarians, Guevara and the Foundation found themselves earlier this year in the unfamiliar situation of being in the middle of a campaign financing scandal. The Foundation admitted to paying for four pre-election seminars after the Libertarian Movement had petitioned the Supreme Elections Tribunal for payment.

Moreover, the Judiciary is still investigating that billing of the Tribunal since supposed leaders of the seminars as well as many of those listed as attending claimed to have no knowledge of the seminars. (See previous article.)

The controversy, raised by some fine investigative reporting by the leading newspaper La Nacion, questioned the Libertarian stance that opposes government intervention in political and business life. (The Tribunal is charged under Costa Rican law with reimbursing parties for legitimate campaign expenses if they receive enough votes to qualify.)