One month before a referendum vote that will include a question on Alberta independence, a free-market organization with links to MAGA tech CEOs promoted “free cities” as a solution to separatist grievances at a Calgary conference.
“Here in Alberta, I know that you have questions about sovereignty, decentralization, provincial authority, and political distance”, said Mailyn Salabarria, senior advisor on U.S. Development and Strategic Partnerships for the Free Cities Foundation. “The free cities movement in general pushes your questions and your concerns a little step forward.”
The Free Cities Foundation promotes the creation of self-governing cities through conferences, media, and a global directory of Free Cities. Salabarria made these comments at the Capitalism and Morality conference in Calgary in early September.
The Free Cities Foundation is part of a broader effort to create autonomous jurisdictions as low-tax, private enclaves attractive to investors and entrepreneurs. There are many different names for and formations of these projects, including special economic zones, charter cities, startup cities, and network states. The movement has significant backing from tech CEOs close to the Trump administration.
This pitch to Alberta separatists is “not surprising”, said Quinn Slobodian, Professor of International History at Boston University. “[T]he possibility of breaking up existing nation-states, especially very large ones like Canada, has been on the mind of these radical libertarians now for at least 30 plus years,” he told DeSmog in an interview. Slobodian traced the history of free marketeers and libertarians designing special economic zones and charter cities in his 2023 book Crack up Capitalism.
Salabarria pitched free cities to the Calgary crowd as something smaller and more nimble than a breakaway state: “How small can the political decision-making be for ordinary people to actually have meaningful choices? For some of you, the answer might be greater provincial autonomy. For others, it could be a general succession. For another group, it can be charter jurisdictions, especially economic zones, competitive municipalities, or private communities,” said Salabarria.
Tech CEOs and Próspera
The Free Cities Foundation’s founder and president is Titus Gebel, a German entrepreneur and thought leader on special economic zones. Between 2017 and 2019, he served as chief legal officer for the company operating Próspera, a fully privatized city-state in Honduras. Located on the island of Roatán, Próspera was first pitched in 2017 and broke ground in 2020, promoted as a libertarian paradise where businesses can choose from a list of regulatory frameworks, or mix and match their own.
Companies can be set up by e-residents without stepping foot on Roatán. Those companies then pay taxes to the economic development zone, not the municipality or Honduran government. Bitcoin is accepted as legal tender and innovative experimental medical clinics allowed Milton Friedman’s grandson Patri Friedman get a Tesla key implanted in his hand.
Some of Próspera’s most prominent backers are Silicon valley Tech CEOs who have ingratiated themselves with U.S. President Donald Trump. Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen have both invested in Próspera through Pronomos Capital, a fund for charter cities.
Thiel has provided capital for a similar venture that the Free Cities Foundation promotes, called “seasteading”, which entails creating “autonomous ocean communities”. Thiel’s software company Palantir has been assisting the Trump administration’s massive deportation campaign, has said that freedom and democracy are incompatible, and has called Greta Thunberg the antichrist.
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is now a new member of the U.S. Pentagon Defense Policy board. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also backed Próspera, along with Praxis, another free city whose architects considered attempting to site in Greenland before settling on Uruguay. Altman donated $5M to Trump’s Super PAC ahead of the 2025 inauguration through his Tools for Humanity company.
Residents of Roatán have fiercely opposed Próspera. According to Human Rights Watch, “Indigenous and Afro-Honduran organizations say that such zones were created within their traditional territories without proper consultation, including free, prior, and informed consent”. Locals reported they were not approached by Próspera until 2019, two years after the project was approved, and at that point it was presented as a resort.
Locals grew more concerned that their land could be expropriated when Próspera posted development designs on its website that included Crawfish Bay, an adjacent community. Honduras has faced a long history of U.S. and corporate incursion; it is where the term “Banana Republic” was invented in response to the control of the United Fruit and Standard Fruit companies. Salabarria told DeSmog in a statement that “Free Cities Foundation does not support any project involved in expropriation of land from any community, including First Nations communities”.
Honduras’ Supreme Court struck down the zone laws which allowed for the creation of Próspera in September 2024 and ruled that the framework violated human rights. Próspera is suing Honduras for nearly US $11B, equivalent to almost two thirds of Honduras’ national budget in 2022. The case is still pending at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Juan Orlando Hernández, the Honduran president who pushed the special economic zones (known as zede) initially, was extradited to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges, and a U.S. court later sentenced him to 45 years. He was pardoned by U.S President Donald Trump and returned to Honduras, where he was cleared of criminal charges.
Salabarria told DeSmog in a statement “Free Cities Foundation has no direct financial relationship with Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, or their companies. We have worked with Próspera in limited, time-bound ways in the past”. Salabarria shared that Free Cities Foundation is independent from Próspera, though the foundation held its most recent conference in the charter city, and Próspera has sponsored some Free Cities Foundation events.
Free Cities, for Whom?
In Alberta, Salabarria urged conference attendees: “Please don’t buy [into] the stereotype that these alternative forms of governance are only for rich people fighting or trying to look for tax havens”.
Salabarria presented free cities as an opportunity to strengthen Albertans’ rights and freedoms. “It is mostly a concept, an umbrella, a legal framework where territories can be created by a contract within a host nation, with meaningful local autonomy, stronger protection of individual rights, and much more freedom on how people can live, work, conduct their business, innovate, build, invest, and organize their communities,” she said.
According to Slobodian, there are two sides to the Free Cities Foundation’s proposal. One is the creation of special economic zones to create opportunities for private investors. The other side is the promise of gated communities that “offer their residents a certain sense of increased security, often cultural and class homogeneity, stability for their real estate investments.” Slobodian explained that service provision within these communities can become quite costly when publicly funded services are privatized. In that way, free cities are for the wealthy few who “already have many, many options for living according to [their] preferences,” he said.
Salabarria told DeSmog that “free cities are not only for the wealthy” and named another special economic zone in Honduras, Ciudad Morazán, as providing affordable housing to local residents. She also said these zones offer employment and higher earnings to locals.
The conference was organized by Econ Americas, a Colorado based financial consulting firm, and talks ranged from banning trans athletes from competitive sports and managing diabetes through the paleo diet, to getting rid of government altogether.
At the opening evening of the conference Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich was given a “Good Rebel” award. In a Substack post ahead of the conference, Econ Americas founder Fergus Hodgson wrote that “[t]here is an incredibly rare opening in Alberta to peacefully build a state-of-the-art nation that can lead the world for freedom.” Conference sponsors included Bow Valley Credit Union and Alberta Women for Independence, as well as right-wing websites Western Standard and Juno News.
“I personally see Alberta nationhood as tremendously beneficial,” Hodgson said in response to DeSmog’s request for comment, explaining that it would increase government accountability and individual choice for Albertans.
“Ottawa loyalists who push the notion that Americans are behind the movement demonstrate a lack of understanding and an eagerness to turn a blind eye to the disaffected, homegrown, and highly motivated movement that is staring them in the face”, said Hodgson.
Salabarria wasn’t the only speaker calling for an end to government as we know it. “Democracy is not reformed. It is progressively displaced by property-based decision-making,” said Darcy Gerow, former deputy leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada, in a talk he called “The Anarcho-Capitalist Case For Alberta”. Gerow argued in favour of an independent Alberta where “[a]ll public assets should be privatized by distributing shares to the people who funded them and rightfully owned them, the taxpayers”.
Gerow said the same logic that is applied to privatizing education and healthcare should be extended to security, the courts, and finance. He also proposed that only property owners and net tax contributors should have a say over local taxes and regulation, with private contracts taking the place of a constitution, and competition and secession standing in for elections.
Gerow did not respond to DeSmog’s questions.
According to Slobodian, American investors would be very interested in the creation of free cities or special economic zones in Alberta, especially in the context of the Canada- U.S. trade war and increasing energy demands for artificial intelligence. This could be “part of like a U.S. driven oil grab that’s driven by the energy demands of the tech sector …which is exploiting this secessionist energy and exploiting culture war issues for very direct economic ends.”
Meanwhile, Alberta separatist leaders have visited the U.S. State Department to offer up resources including water and oil royalties. Republican political operatives visited Calgary to present software to identify Albertans likely to vote yes in a referendum on separation.
Salabarria stated “We are not currently working with any specific investors, groups or proposals to establish a Free City or Special Economic Zone in Alberta. We are, however, open to engaging with serious proposals aimed at creating new zones with greater autonomy where these are based on voluntary participation and lawful agreement.”
Slobodian argued that “I can see tons of reasons why a tech-adjacent investor, of which most of these network state people are, would see this as an opportunity to grab access within the continent.”
