Liberal Libertarian Party

The Liberal Libertarian Party (Spanish: Partido Liberal Libertario) was a political party from Argentina founded in 2009.[1] It defines itself both as a classical liberal and libertarian party. Its political platform advocates limited government, free markets and individual liberties including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, right to privacy and strong civil liberties. It advocates the values of the 1853 Constitution.[4]

Liberal Libertarian
Partido Liberal Libertario
PresidentGonzalo Blousson
FoundedJune 22, 2009 (2009-06-22)[1]
Dissolved2014
Succeeded byLibertarian Party
HeadquartersBuenos Aires, Argentina
IdeologyLibertarianism
Classical liberalism[2]
Laissez-faire
Non-aggression principle[3]
International affiliationInterlibertarians
Website
www.liberallibertario.org

Its goals are to limit the government intrusion on individual liberty, reduce government spending, lower taxes for Argentinians, balance the budget, reduce regulations and promote free trade. Their slogan is "Individual rights, free market and non-aggression"[5][6]

The party emphasizes the role of free markets and individual achievement as the primary factors behind economic prosperity. To this end, they favor laissez-faire economics, fiscal conservatism, and the promotion of personal responsibility over welfare programs. A leading economic theory advocated is supply-side economics. The party has been morally opposed to increasing the public debt and raising taxes, and proposed to reduce government spending as an alternative.[7][8]

History

The party started after a group of people discussed in a Facebook group called "I want a liberal party in Argentina" (Spanish: Quiero que exista un partido liberal en la Argentina).[9] Note that the word "liberal" referred to classical liberalism as opposed to modern liberalism. Because of the lack of representation in the country's government, the group decided to create their own party.

Judge María Romilda Servini de Cubría is handling the legal recognition of the newly created party.[10] The party campaigned to get 4000 members in order to be able to take part in the 2013 election.[9]

Protests
PL members at the Global Marihuana March in Buenos Aires

The Liberal Libertarian Party has been criticizing the policies implemented in Argentina since their foundation (e.g., doing a parody of an advertisement about taxes[11]), but the party acquired media attention in March 2011 when they asked Buenos Aires governor Mauricio Macri to lift a ruling on motels which doesn't allow the entrance of more than two people per room, arguing it was a violation of private property rights. The party said it should be up to the owner to decide the admission policies of his business, and not the State.[12]

The party suggested closing the CONEAU (National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation) arguing it's not only a misuse of taxpayers money but also an affront to academic independence.[13] They also protested against the state public founding of the TV program named "6,7,8" alleging taxpayers should not fund official propaganda.[14][15][16]

In April 2011, a controversy rise when Horacio González, director of the national library, ask to avoid choosing Nobel Prize in Literature Mario Vargas Llosa as the inaugural speaker at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair after Vargas Llosa criticized the Argentine government.[17] On the inauguration day, party members show up and held a demonstration in support of Vargas Llosa, who gave the inaugural speech without incidents.[18][19][20]

In May 2011, party members took part in the Global Marijuana March in Buenos Aires under the slogan The State is a bad trip (Spanish: El Estado pega mal).[21] The Liberal Libertarian Party support marijuana legalization claiming the State should respect individual actions as long they do not harm another individual's freedom.[9][22] The party argue that prohibition violates article 19 of the constitution[23] They also demanded dismissal of the charges against Matías Faray, who was detained for cannabis cultivation.[23][24]

On July 1, the party went to the main building of Argentina's tax agency AFIP (English: Federal Administration of Public Income) to protest in a pacific way against the high tax rate. They did a symbolic closure of the tax agency as a celebration of Tax Freedom Day.[25] Also the party criticized the Federal Coparticipation law, the use of taxpayers money on funding bankrupted[26] airline Aerolíneas Argentinas and the use of retiree's money on Soccer for Everybody (Spanish: Fútbol para todos).[27]

In January 2012, the party criticized the government's smart card SUBE (Spanish: Sistema Único de Boleto Electrónico, English: Unique Electronic Ticket System), a card used to travel by bus, train, and subway. A citizen who doesn't use the government's SUBE card is required to pay a higher price for the ticket.[28][29] As people are required to give personal information to the government in order to obtain these cards, and as the card logs the date, time, and location of each ride, the Liberal Libertarian Party said the card constitutes an encroachment by the government against the privacy of citizens. They proposed an exchange of cards between users as a form of peaceful protest.[30][31][32] Months later, controversy arose when an independent newspaper found irregularities in the call for bids process of SUBE as it cost $10 million (ARS) more than the second most expensive bid.[33] After the press found fake employees with fake résumés and a fake office address,[34] the government decided to cancel the contract with the company that supervised the card.[35]

From May 2012, Argentina's tax agency (AFIP) forced banks to ask authorization in order to sell United States dollars to citizens. The buyer must notify to AFIP his income and they decide how many dollars he can buy.[36] Also, the foreign currency market is restricted to entities approved by the Central Bank. This restrictions to buy dollars led to an increase in black market activity.[37] The party believes the people has the constitutional right to use and dispose their private property as they wish,[38] so they protested against the restrictions by buying/selling dollars in small units to the public, without proper government authorization, at Buenos Aires Central Business District. AFIP security agents were present at the beginning of the protest but left when the media arrived.[39][40][41] The original protest won the attention of the national press and a few news agencies from other countries.[42][43]

References
  1. "Exitosa presentación del Partido Liberal Libertario". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). June 22, 2009.
  2. "Hacia una asociación "voluntaria": El Partido Liberal Libertario y la nación como imposición del Estado". 2013.
  3. https://liberallibertario.org/principios/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Jaroslavsky, Marcelo (October 8, 2011). "157 años después. ¿Qué queda de su espíritu?" (in Spanish).
  5. "Un partido basado en principios". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish).
  6. Rodríguez Petersen, Javier (6 September 2012). "El curioso partido político que "clausuró" la AFIP". Clarín.
  7. "El PRO sube impuestos en lugar de bajar el gasto". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). October 3, 2012.
  8. "Proponen juntar dinero en forma privada para levantar el embargo de la Fragata Libertad". La Nación (in Spanish). October 26, 2012.
  9. Caminos, Mauricio (June 9, 2012). "Jóvenes buscan instalar un nuevo partido liberal en Argentina". La Nación (in Spanish).
  10. "Segunda Sección". Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina. 31 (929). June 23, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  11. "El PL repudió la publicidad televisiva de AFIP" (in Spanish). April 12, 2011.
  12. Carnevali, Angie (March 31, 2011). "Piden a Macri que permita el sexo grupal en "telos" porteños". Noticias Urbanas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 5, 2012.
  13. Ercolano, Clarisa (March 5, 2011). "Partido Liberal porteño propone cerrar la Coneau". Noticias Urbanas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 4, 2012.
  14. "Pequeño escrache a "6,7,8" en TV Pública". Diario Perfil (in Spanish). April 14, 2011.
  15. Fernández Echegaray, Luis (April 15, 2011). "Protesta frente a la puerta de Canal 7 en contra del programa 6,7,8". Cadena 3 (in Spanish).
  16. "Mini escrache a 6-7-8" (in Spanish). MDZ Online. April 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  17. "Vargas Llosa en la Feria del Libro: sigue la polémica". Clarín (in Spanish). March 16, 2011.
  18. "Llega la Contra-Cámpora y defiende a Vargas Llosa". La Nación (in Spanish). April 11, 2011.
  19. Rodríguez, Emanuel (April 22, 2011). "Vargas Llosa no criticó, y no fue escrachado". La Voz del Interior (in Spanish).
  20. "Pensamiento liberal, un contrapunto". Clarín (in Spanish). April 21, 2011. Archived from the original on July 1, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  21. "El Estado pega mal". lavaca.org (in Spanish). May 8, 2011.
  22. "Despenalización de la marihuana: marcha de la libertad". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). May 6, 2012.
  23. "El PL en marcha por la despenalización de la marihuana: "el Estado pega mal"". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). May 8, 2011.
  24. Juan Diego Britos and Martín Sassone (April 21, 2011). "Un arresto reaviva el debate por la despenalización de la marihuana". Tiempo Argentino (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 8, 2016.
  25. "(Simbólica) Clausura de la AFIP". Urgente 24. July 4, 2011.
  26. Dattilo, Sergio (September 26, 2008). "Aerolíneas Argentinas, en quiebra técnica". Ámbito Financiero (in Spanish).
  27. "El PL celebra el Día de la Liberación de Impuestos clausurando la AFIP". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). June 28, 2011.
  28. "Tarjeta SUBE: la juventud del PL llamó a intercambiarlas para preservar la intimidad". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). January 31, 2012.
  29. "El plástico para viajar con subsidio". Página/12 (in Spanish). February 3, 2012.
  30. Caminos, Mauricio (January 31, 2012). "Proponen intercambiar entre usuarios la SUBE para evitar el registro personal de viajes". La Nación (in Spanish).
  31. "Una forma de protesta que puede causar problemas". Perfil (in Spanish). February 4, 2012. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  32. "Entrevista a Gonzalo Blousson por la SUBE". Banda 3.0 (in Spanish). February 1, 2012. (Video)
  33. Ruiz, Iván (May 21, 2012). "Pagan $ 10 millones más caro el control del sistema SUBE". La Nación (in Spanish).
  34. "Lanata, tras el "fantasma" que controla la tarjeta SUBE". La Nación (in Spanish). July 9, 2012.
  35. "El Gobierno suspendió el contrato con la empresa que supervisaba la SUBE". La Nación (in Spanish). July 12, 2012.
  36. "La AFIP deberá habilitar cada adquisición de dólares en base a los ingresos declarados por los compradores". Página/12 (in Spanish). October 29, 2011.
  37. "En el mercado negro avanza la timba". Página/12. May 24, 2012.
  38. "El PL sale a la calle a vender dólares". Liberal Libertarian Party (in Spanish). May 25, 2012.
  39. "Curiosa protesta en Lavalle y Florida: venden dólares sin permiso y a 5 pesos". La Nación (in Spanish). May 29, 2012.
  40. "Un partido vendió dólares a $5 en plena Florida". Infobae (in Spanish). May 28, 2012.
  41. "Corralito verde". Crónica TV (in Spanish). May 28, 2012. (Video)
  42. "Venden dólares en peatonal de Buenos Aires para protestar por restricciones". La Nación (Paraguay) (in Spanish). May 28, 2012. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012.
  43. "Miembros de grupo político liberal venden dólares en calles de Buenos Aires en protestas por restricciones". NTN24 (Colombia) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2014-03-16. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
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