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Hello John,
When we spoke with Maria, she had just come for a protest to support Ukraine. "We found liberty at the same time," she explained. "So Venezuela always supports Ukraine, and Ukraine marches for Venezuela."
People who knew María as a child might be surprised she is now marching for global liberty.
"I have pictures of me from three years old wearing shirts with Che Guevara – my family is completely communist except for my mom. I never felt comfortable with those ideas, so I started to investigate. I started to see organizations around the world but didn’t feel that I identified with any of them. Then, one day, a friend messaged me about Students For Liberty. I looked at their website and saw life, liberty, and property. I thought, ‘okay, this is what I believe.’ I applied for the local coordinator’s program, and here I am.
I love Venezuela, but I know that I don’t have any opportunity here. We have persecution by the government, then the intelligence service. I’m finishing my law degree and want to do everything I have to do in like two years. And then I want to worry about my career always with the ideas of liberty wherever I am.
I like to do proactive work. I’m a researcher in business intelligence – actually, I found the job through SFL – and I speak to kids about entrepreneurship, economic freedom, liberty, and objectivism."
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"At the beginning, audiences were less receptive than they are now, but I understood that if we want to promote the ideas, we need to talk in their own language. We need to see a common point. Talking about entrepreneurship is good because the minimum wage in Venezuela is $2 per month, and you can’t live on $2 or $3 per month. For example, you go to McDonald’s, and the price of a McFlurry is $6. It’s just ice cream; there’s no Oreo or anything. So, you need to be entrepreneurial to survive. People are libertarian without knowing about libertarianism – it was the same case with me.
When I heard about libertarianism, it was like a revelation. Because before joining SFL, I was a human rights activist supporting public education for everyone and things like that. But, I was really critiquing – how is public education going to be possible if people don’t have money to pay taxes? It’s unsustainable. Then, when I read about Mises and Hayek, I understood why it’s unsustainable.
A freer future in Venezuela is when the government does not criminalize the generation of wealth. If you are a successful entrepreneur, the government is going to take your money or take your enterprise, and it’s not correct. They destroy everything that they touch. The starting point is to make people conscious about the importance of the generation of wealth.
It can be dangerous to speak out. If Maduro’s government wants you in jail, they are going to find a reason – you don’t have to do anything. So I talk about welfare, entrepreneurship, economic freedom, and liberty in general rather than say ‘Maduro, get out’ so it’s not too dangerous.
It’s uncomfortable for the government because those are ideas, and they have changed the world.
We had an SFL retreat last week, and talking about promoting the ideas of liberty made us cry a lot because we defend and promote liberty, but we don’t know liberty firsthand. We only know it in books, or if we travel to another country. Liberty is temporary, not real in Venezuela."
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Sincerely & For Liberty,
Kenny
Kenneth S. Wagner JD/MBA
Director of Development
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