Manuel Francisco Ayau Cordon, founder of free-markets bastion Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala City, believes universities should stay out of politics and place themselves beyond the conflicts of their time. (Rodrigo Abd / For The Times)
Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala City requires all undergraduates, regardless of major, to study market economics and the philosophy of individual rights embraced by the U.S. founding fathers. (Rodrigo Abd / For The Times)
Unlike public universities in Latin America, protests and sit-ins at Francisco Marroquin, a private institution, are discouraged. (Rodrigo Abd / For The Times)
Tuition at Francisco Marroquin University runs $8,000 a year for some programs (more than three times the annual gross national per capita income), making it the priciest university in Guatemala. (Rodrigo Abd / For The Times)
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Some leftists decry Manuel Francisco Ayau Cordon as a lackey of the ruling classes, dishing up neo-liberal dogma to rich kids in a nation where a few powerful families still call most of the shots. Conservative elites chafe at his op-ed harangues about their cozy oligopolies and government protections. (Rodrigo Abd / For The Times)
