I was born and raised in a country where the government built social housing and converted private homes into municipalities; Where the state led supermarkets, controlled prices and the wealth of the “rich” expropriated in the name of social justice. Weapons were forbidden and “hate -sowing speech” – that is, every criticism of power – was punished by the law.
I lived in the dream that many New Yorkers want for their city. And I had to flee to survive.
Growing up in Venezuela meant that they were raised between ruins and nostalgia – a country suspended in memory of what it once was, while ending the wreck of what it had ended.
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As a teenager I would go to the supermarket with my mother looking for eggs or corn flour to make arepas, the most traditional breakfast in Venezuela. But time and time again we would find the boards completely empty. I can’t tell you how often that happened. And every time she would remind me that this was not the case years ago – she used to have many options, with several brands to choose from. But now there was nothing. The country she remembered no longer existed.
Franklin Camargo had to escape from Venezuela and promoted socialism by former President Hugo Chavez. (AP2011)
Venezuela was one of the most prosperous countries in the world: in 1950 it had the fourth highest GDP per head of the population in the world, with foreign investments and a rising middle class.
How did Venezuela go from an oil power to one of the highest inflation in the world? How does a country reach the point where my father – an economist and owner of a small company – and my mother – who had doctorates in education – should stop eating food to feed their children? It’s pretty simple. People currently embraced the same socialist ideas that are popular in New York City.
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Before everything collapsed in Venezuela, I got to know the United States: I was surprised by the cars, the technology and even the absurd variety of Oreos. I had to visit Disneyland at the age of 6. What I did not know at the time was that my family and I would flee Venezuela 15 years later after I was accused of terrorism and obtained political asylum obtained under the first Trump government.
That same year I visited New York – the city that I saw several times in films. I was impressed. The skyscrapers, the infrastructure, run through Times Square and seeing the number of brands … It was the symbol of individual progress. Nowadays, that incredible city flirts with the same ideas about the country that force me to escape.
Freeze rental prices? Build more social housing? Converting private property into municipalities? I have heard those ideas before. President Hugo Chávez did the same in Venezuela with his program “Gran Misión ViVienda Venezuela”: he promised to put an end to market abuse, offered free housing and began to nationalize private property. The result? Collapsed investments, poorly built houses, widespread corruption and millions of live in terrible conditions.
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Free public transport? I saw it. In Venezuela, Chávez did it: he explained transport a “right” and fully subsidized it. The prices were so “low” that they didn’t even cover the basic costs.
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What happened? The system collapsed. Without maintenance, the buses did not stop. Nowadays millions of people spend hours in line to get in one bus when it arrives.
Government supermarkets? In Venezuela it was called Mercal: a state network that soon became synonymous with long rows, expired food, scarcity and smuggling treated by the regime. Only those who are loyal to the party ate.
In this 12 August 2001, file photo released by Miraflores Press Office, to the left of Cuba, Anti-American President Fidel Castro, and the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Wave to a crowd while he is touring on Canaima National Park in the east of Venezuela in a cano. (AP Photo/Ho, Miraflores Presidential Palace, Egilda Gomez, File)
And the idea that billionaires should not exist? Chávez said the same thing. He expropriated those who generated employment and progress, and in the end the only rich individuals were the politicians.
I could continue to mention every socialist promise, and the result remains the same: socialism always fails. It doesn’t matter the country or who applies it. It brings scarcity, repression and ruin. But it’s not just a practical error. It is a perverse ideology that attacks freedom, property and human dignity.
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The United States were not built with imposed equality, but with freedom. We are not entitled to happiness, but have the right to pursue our own happiness. And for those of us who come from darkness, that’s all you need.
I lived the socialist dream of Mamdani and I had to flee to survive.
