Why Did Uruguay Land US$1 Billion Without Creating a Special Zone?
Eduardo Bastitta walks across a 515-hectare plot, roughly 737 manzanas (the traditional Guatemalan land measure), on the shore of the Río de la Plata, outside Colonia del Sacramento. Across the water, an hour away by boat, lies Buenos Aires. Bastitta is an Argentine businessman who founded Plaza Logística, a network of warehouse parks across the […]
Why Does No One Connect Through Guatemala?
Guatemala sits between two oceans and at the heart of the Americas, yet for centuries it has functioned more as the end of the line than as a crossroads. This essay traces that history from the ports of the Kingdom of Guatemala to La Aurora International Airport and asks what it would take to turn geography into connectivity.
When a Country Spends in Emergencies… as It Does in Normal Times
Diego turned eighteen just a few weeks ago. Next year he will vote for the first time and, like thousands of young Guatemalans, he still doesn’t know where he will study, which company will give him his first job, or how much he will earn five years from now. What he hasn’t yet imagined is […]
Less Free Than Athens
Lisandros was born in Phoenicia but has lived in the port of Athens for twenty years. He rents a workshop where he manufactures amphorae to export olive oil. He hires both free workers and slaves. He asked no one’s permission to open his business. No one demands monthly reports from him. If a trading partner breaks […]
Geography Gave Us Wings, but the Future Landed in Panama
For much of the twentieth century, Pan American World Airways aircraft regularly touched down on the runway of La Aurora Airport. For thousands of American travelers, Guatemala was neither a secondary stop nor a remote destination lost among volcanoes. It was a frequent stop within the air network that connected the continent’s major cities. The […]