About
The Acton Institute established the Guardian of Freedom Award in 2009 in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall to recognize the ongoing contributions of leaders who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to liberty. Laureates have dedicated their professional lives to advancing the principles of freedom and guarding them for subsequent generations.
2023 Guardian of Freedom Award Winner
Salim Mattar
Brazilian entrepreneur and liberty advocate Salim Mattar had his first contact with liberalism at the age of 16, when a professor of an evening course in accounting adopted the book The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. At the age of 17, he was introduced to The Road to Serfdom by Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek.
Salim went on to study administration at the University of Minas Gerais Foundation (FUMEC). In 1973, he co-founded Localiza Rent a Car S/A at the age of 24 with only six used Volkswagen Beetles bought on credit. It is currently the most valuable listed car rental company in the world.
As CEO of Localiza, Salim was named Best CEO for two consecutive years by Institutional Investor magazine and ranked one of the 50 best performing CEOs in Latin America by Harvard Business Review Magazine.
Salim has been engaged in the cause of liberalism in Brazil since the 1980s through institutes, associations, and civil society organizations that defend democratic ideals based on the rule of law, market economy, free enterprise, principles of subsidiarity, and state reduction. During the ’80s, he also attended the Instituto Liberal, where he had contact with names like Roberto Campos and Donald Stewart Jr. He financed the publication of several books in Brazil, including Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, a work of fiction that became a manifesto of libertarian thought around the world.
Motivated by liberty ideas, Salim founded the Leaders Training institutes in Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Florianópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Curitiba, Lajeado, Recife, Salvador, Joinville, and Goiânia. He also supports many of the approximately 120 liberal institutions present in different regions of the country.
Between January 2019 and August 2020, Salim headed the Special Secretariat for Privatization, Divestments, and Markets of the Ministry of Economy with the mission of reducing the size of the Brazilian government. He left the position in August 2020 after becoming convinced that the establishment had no interest in privatization.
According to his assessment, the Brazilian state remains gigantic, slow, bureaucratic, and suffocates taxpayers and private initiative. Yet Salim remains dedicated to disseminating liberty ideas and training future leaders committed to a free country via the Liberal Institute and the Free Market Institute.
Past Recipients
Alejandro Garza Lagüera was born on June 10, 1926, the son of prominent Monterrey businessman Eugenio Garza Sada, whose father had been one of the founders of the Cuauhtémoc Brewery in Monterrey, Mexico. Throughout his life, Alejandro Garza Lagüera showed his great respect not only for professional best practices but also for the human person. He helped to continue the brewery’s pioneering social work, with the creation of the Sociedad Cuauhtémoc y Famosa. Anticipating the era of so-called “corporate social responsibility,” he put this into practice with the creation of social works that, as he wrote, would through work and savings bring “well-being, progress, culture, and justice, as well as the dignity of the person and the integrity of the family.”
Don Alejandro also accompanied and supported his father’s immense effort in the creation of the Technological Institute of Monterrey, one of Mexico and Latin America’s top universities. He was a key figure on the board of the Centro de Estudios en Economía y Educación (now called the Academia de Investigación Humanística) and was a trustee of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and the Acton Institute. Garza was a member of Acton’s board from 2000 to 2006. He also served on the Board of Governors at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Don Alejandro’s Christian life was exemplary. The dedication of Mis años en Cervecería Cuauhtémoc, a book on his experiences in the family brewery business, sums up his thoughts on family in a few words: “This is for you, Maca, the best wife and companion one could have. You have made my life complete.” He has been an example not only in his personal Christian life but also in his family and in his business work. In our world we need good examples that can be emulated. Don Alejandro’s life and work are one of those good examples.
Joanne Beyer, trustee and former president of the Allegheny Foundation, received the second Guardian of Freedom Award in a ceremony at the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 2, 2018.
The award recognizes her leadership in the cause of ordered liberty, constitutionally limited government, and her commitment to the principles of the American founding rooted in faith and reason. For decades, Beyer has been recognized as a philanthropic leader throughout Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania, and the United States as a whole. In addition to her work with the Allegheny Foundation, Beyer served as the operating officer of the Scaife Family Foundation, and worked informally with both the Carthage Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.
She is also a former member of the board of directors at St. Vincent College. Friends and admirers of Beyer, and in recognition of her decades of work for a free society, have contributed funds in her name to establish a new endowment in support of fellowships for Catholic leaders to attend special Acton programs. The Joanne Beyer Fellowships will be a lasting tribute to her leadership, her faith, and her tireless efforts for freedom.
Giancarlo Ibárgüen (1963-2016), former President of Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City, Guatemala, received the first Guardian of Freedom Award in a ceremony at the university’s campus on Nov. 16, 2009.
Ibárgüen contributed to the cause of liberty by leading one of the foremost educational institutions in Latin America, a school that has a mission of teaching the ethical, legal and economic principles essential to a society of free and responsible persons. Acton recognizes the vital importance of his work to educate a new generation of leaders.
Image attribution: Luisfi / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0].