[Applause]
there is a story that I usually
I count in my economics classes
institutional and in the history of of
frodo of the lord of the rings in the
third book of the book sequence
of Tolkien which is called the return of the
king
if you remember very well frodo is the
person to whom the ring community
of sigma to wear the ring almonte
doom and destroy it
the ring can only be destroyed in that
mount in that goal here is something very
interesting in this in this part of the
story and that is frodo is the person
less ambitious is the most
honest community and there is the
person to whom the power is given
but what happens in the course of
this one of this task of going and destroying
mine
what happens is that frodo when he
is about to throw the ring to
fire for destruction
he looks seduced by the ring he looks
seduced by power and doubt and try
keep the friend and he puts it the year
what it does is that it disappears and frodo
but at that moment it is there
column gollum sepi to the shoulders
de frodo and try to take mine and
then he even bites his finger
and he starts it and then a
fight between frodo and gollum for him
to me or that triggers in that gollum
falls to the fire with him to me or the friend he
destroys when the ring is destroyed
It destroys evil and evil disappears
here comes another anecdote that to me
it seems another message
another moral of this story
I think it’s interesting that
Evil disappears because of competition
between two ambitions the ambition of
frodo and the ambition of column this
story for me echoes the
aphorism of a well-known Lord character
acton who says power tends to
corrupt and absolute power corrupts
absolutely
because it seems important to me because
events that occurred last year in
guatemala reflect a very situation
similar to the one that is facing frodo
mainly from our rulers
our rulers to find the
power are seduced by the power they
they are trapped by power and fall before
the temptation of power can not
resist and that leads them to use the power
but what I start to reflect and
is and is a question that what I want
to make you is will be that you
in the same situation that the
rulers would not fall before the
temptation of power
it will be that the people we protest
during the protests of the year
past
will be that we have such a nature
different than when we get there
part of the government we would not fall before
this same temptation
it will be that we are so different is to say
It is very easy to accuse another person of
that is corrupt but it is different to be
instead and face an offer
of what we want most for
something that is and doing it in a way
illegal to obtain something that we
we really want but getting it
through illegal mechanisms
sometimes the temptation can be very
strong and if we are not prepared before
those temptations we can finish
doing the same thing that we criticize and this
it takes me to my second story
this is a story that surely
you know very well what is the
history of ulises and the sirens in the
book of Odyssey by Homer and that the
that what this story tells us
basically what you are telling us
homero in this book is the trip that
does ulises when returning from fighting
trojan wars when he returns to
those of the ulya troy wars and their
and his group get into a fight with a
cyclops to a cyclops is this character
mythological that has only one eye and
ulises and his and his friends blinds the
cyclops then as punishment before
that action that he does ulises and his
group the gods decide to make him very
difficult
the trip back from Troy to Ithaca
which is the house where from where is it
ulises then one of those difficulties
that the gods put to ulises is that
he must cross the sea where
there are sirens and these mermaids sing and
those songs are very beautiful songs but
who are intent on seducing
the sailors to throw themselves into the water
so that they throw themselves into the sea and die
then ulises knows that in advance
ulises knows what in that course
the sirens are going to emerge
then he says let’s do something to
face that situation that we’re going to
do to face that situation what
what we are going to do is that the group of
sailors that goes with me is going to put
it will be in the ears so that when
mermaid sirens can not hear the and
therefore do not die but I do
I want to hear the sirens says ulises
then I ‘m not going to put on it will be in
the ears
what I’m going to do is
marrar I will or I will marrar
you to the mast so that when I
I heard the sirens can not escape
go after them
then they tie him to the mast and he and
he says but if I want to get rid of
mast if I want to escape to
you hold me more strongly
because today is surely I’m going to them
I’m going to ask, I’m going to beg
release because the sirens song
It’s so seductive that I’m going to love
let go of me and so it happens they pass on
they put to do to the I know them
the members of the team’s
team of ulises friends and he gets
moor and when it goes through the sea
start then come out the ideas that
They are also very beautiful and begin to
sing then ulises you want to get away and
he starts to steal olbia he forgets what
I told you forget what I said
they know but they bind it with more force and
in that way
ulises manages to overcome this obstacle that
he had put the gods and achieved
go through it by the sea that moraleja
we can get from this
history
the moral that I believe
can we get from this
history is that in life and in
political life
let’s face again those
temptations but we have to generate from
the same way that generated ulises
we have to generate strategies for
be able to face those temptations and not
perish and not fall into them that can
get to destroy us
and this is what we call in science
social is what we call generate
institutions
the institutions are the rules of
game that allow us to tie ourselves and us
they allow us to remain stable before a
situation of this nature of
pentation before the power before the
seduction and if we do not generate
those rules or those institutions or the
we violated
then there are going to be consequences which
was the consequence the consequence for
ulises was to die violating the rule that
had imposed of being tied up before
andy to the mast was to die and die in
in the sea with the mermaids
situations make me think about
what happened last year in
Guatemala and many things went through
example these transformations occurred
that occurred in the country obeyed in
much in many ways a and the
leadership that there was in the country in
guatemala there were different types of
Guatemala leadership leadership by
example of the deputy who passed the
night at the congress because I wanted
press to make a
procedure with regard to
president the leadership of the people
that they made a human chain so that
the deputies will enter to vote for
analyze the protection to be
makes the president different
many anonymous associations many
religious many educational and even
participating universities here it happened
a series of leadership and something that
it was interesting I think in these different
demonstrations that were made in
guatemala is that these demonstrations
they were organic manifestations were
spontaneous manifestations that do not
they had a person that centrally
will organize everything but they were like
different orders in economics
we call polycentric orders
different centers different leadership
that through different means
they could organize themselves to do
massive demonstrations that have
been historical in recent history
and democratic country
Now what it was due to it
will consolidate these movements
I think it was due to two aspects and
maybe mainly to
an aspect that is the freedom of
expression and freedom of expression
I mean the different media
written and television that motivated
the people to protest and how the
motivated by making the threads of
the different manifestations of
corruption that led the population
I love to have a lot of indignation remember
you that the eighties
for example when I grew up in myself
I grew up in san marcos near the border
with mexico in the eighties and
ninetys in guatemala
there were two television news
only two and there were 12 media
written and they already knew four means
now in guatemala there is a great
diversity of written media
television media and social networks
that definitely social networks
What they have done is reduce the cost of
expression almost to zero before in the
80s in guatemala to have a
column in a newspaper or power
expressing himself on television was something
it was a luxury not just anyone
I could express your opinion now one
You can express your opinion only
writing a message on facebook or a
message on twitter
and that message on facebook and message in
twitter can be replicated many times and
it can have an effect you can have
a multiplier effect reaches
many people
that has been very important and united to
I think this is the fact that
when on facebook we put a
message what we are doing is
sending a signal when for example
I am going to Constitution Plaza
I put the Guatemalan flag and it took me
a picture what I’m doing is
sending a signal that is what I am
saying I am saying I have values
I have I am with the good me
I’m with the honest ones and I’m against
the bad and this message reaches
our friends then in true
meaning we are communicating a message
of identity
and obviously each one of us has
a circle of friends
that circle of friends multiplies
exist as as different about the
clamp between these circles and then
that is the message arrives and communicates
there are certain investigations that have been
done for example in india where in
where as you know there are rites in
where people walk by
carbon walk through fire or insert
nails or different objects are inserted
sharp and some sociologists and
political scientists what they have discovered from
these of these different rituals
since the person is done to them
send a message to communicate a
message and I think that’s what they are
doing the social networks is like
potentiating the capacity of
people to communicate a message
there is another freedom that sometimes does not
we talk a lot but it’s freedom
religious the freedom of religion is
very important in a country because it is
important freedom of religion
because the freedom of religion what
It’s about competing religions
I know that a free
competition market of religions and
that has interesting implications for
example there are studies like studies
of christopher hill from the university of
alabama where he studies how the
religious freedom and competition
Religious in Mexico leads to greater
citizen participation and older
protests why that happens because at
there is competition between religions
the religions becomes more
decentralized
for example in Mexico, precisely
is that happening religion
Catholic becomes more centralized
with the deacons in different
communities
the protestant religion responds to a
that and then they originate as
different cells and that cell what
do is to strengthen the capacity
organizational and management capacity
of the communities
In addition, religious competence
what it does is that the
religions begin to support the
Give us in defense of your rights and it is
something that we saw in the demonstrations in
Guatemala had different groups
religious had different
expressions of different groups
religious
then the freedom of religion and the
freedom of expression are very
important to be able to control the
abuse of power
freedom of religion and freedom
of expression reinforce themselves
so that mechanisms are generated
and people can come up with ways to
to resist the power
usually we talk about
entrepreneurship is something that is talked about
a lot is very important
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship that
is to launch new new products
products to the market to be creative to be
innovators but there is some innovation
it is very important that the network that the
religious freedom and freedom of
expression generates and that is that the
people we can be creative and be
innovative but to generate mechanisms
to face the temptation of power
what exactly did ulises do
ulises tied to the mast
that was a strategy then you are
liberties what they do is create
pressure for them to
citizens and so that the rulers
think of better coping mechanisms
with power
then it happened to frodo it happened to
ulises that are fictional characters and and
some believe it is that not so typical
in the case of ulises but also you
it can happen to you and surely it’s going to
happen to you you will face in a
situation where you will decide to throw
the ring or stay with the power and
abuse him clear at that time
Thank you
the laws
[Music]
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