“It’s good freedom, for sovereignty, for democracy to not have all the power concentrated in the national government. […] There’s an understanding of sovereignty that’s really the core in this whole issue. I think sovereignty resides in the people and I think it should be very well distributed through various institutions including the legislative, executive, judicial, but also municipalities and the ZEDEs.”
This week’s episode is another foray into the world of Próspera, Honduras’ innovative Free Cities project.
This time, I’m talking to Jorge Colindres, who is Próspera’s Technical Secretary, which is a role akin to the mayor of a traditional municipality. We spend time going into Jorge’s responsibilities at Próspera and his opinions on the idea of the ZEDEs, Honduras’ so-called Zones of Employment and Economic Development, which he considers to be the world’s most advanced form of these kinds of special zones.
We also discuss tourism and the problems of political instability and the idea of the ZEDEs as a response to this instability as well as the notion of whether governments could ever shut down Próspera.
We talk about the most compelling arguments against ZEDEs and how they manifest in Honduras and whether Europe is actually a good place for this kind of Free Cities model.
Jorge finishes with some timeless advice for anyone wishing to replicate their model of governance and also how he sees the future of Próspera over the long term. I would like to say thank you to Jorge for taking the time out of his busy schedule to speak to me.
Enjoy the conversation!