The Exchanges

Q about our duty to, to our society and our values, and I'm also a businessman, so I, I'm, I'm curious. So clearly your father imbued these values in you very strongly, and originally you were an industrial engineer, And you were, and you had finance and all sorts of other backgrounds for business. What, what made you decide to become a leader this way and to fight for your society?

A Well, you're very lucky to be a father of, of so many daughters and the eldest of four daughters. So, um, and we adore our father. So I said, well, I'm going to prove this guy that he didn't need to have, uh, a son to follow his steps. So I went in to study what he had started, engineering and finance and so on, and I loved what I did. But I suddenly realized that you cannot live in islands isolated when your country's falling apart. So that's why we decided to create a civic movement, uh, to channel all these tensions and, and, and violence that Hugo Charles was promoting. And one thing brought me to another. No, you know, from civic activism, finally, I realized I couldn't complain all the time about politics and politicians and how bad they were doing things and, you know, but not wanted to get involved. So I decided to, to, to take the step. And, uh, we created the first libertarian party in, in Venezuelan's history. And, uh, we, we, they told me it was impossible to reach out, you know, to poor rural areas because we have only seen socialism in Venezuela so far. But on the contrary, uh, when you start, start speaking about the ideas that really work and you value, you know, individual freedom And, and what people, and, and, and trust people and their talent and potential, then you, you make these great things happen and, and we've created this movement all around the count…

AI assessment note: “I suddenly realized that you cannot live in islands isolated when your country's falling apart.”

Q in Latin America, it feels like there's some maybe room for optimism because on one hand, Argentina has pushed in, in a very kind of very free direction. And then I hear Bolivia this week, this last week, the candidates, there's going to be someone who's not on the far left running it for the first time in a long time. Are the people waking up and seeing what's happening?

A Absolutely. But, but let me tell you something, I'll go further, because it's really important what you said. Here in Latin America, Puerto de Sao Paulo and other left-wing groups had managed to exchange technology, information, resources, even to promote fraud, fraudulent elections all over the region. And what we are doing now, with Venezuelan experience, that we are helping other countries because of all What we learned in turn how to, uh, uh, dismantle the fraudulent system. And as you said, we just saw this on, on last Sunday in, in, in Bolivia. This is huge after 19 years. You know, the left is absolutely, has absolutely disappeared. And we're seeing that in Ecuador and certainly our, our really good friend Javier Milay in Argentina. And imagine what's going to happen to Venezuela. Because let me tell you something. If there's one country That rejects socialism. That is Venezuela, because what we have suffered, and this is a country that is willing to embrace the ideas of freedom, of liberty, of, of open markets, uh, and, and, and, and having family together, Joel, having suffered so much during all these years have shown our generation, and it is the best prepared generation, To turn this country all around and we will have, you know, solid profound Republican and pillars on which we're going to build a country that's going to be the enemy of the world in terms of how mu…

AI assessment note: “Absolutely. But, but let me tell you something, I'll go further”

Q Because he said, oh, it's white people who don't like me. I'm a mulatto. He's like, it's that kind of thing too, huh?

A Exactly. Exactly. And Venezuela was a cohesive society and he, and, and Travis looked to, to, to divide us. You know, those who live on one side, on the east and the west, those who live inside, those who have left by race, by religion even. And, and what we decided is, you know what, we're gonna get back this country together around values, virtues, around a vision. And that was, you know, there was a single longing that I found sharing with everyone is that we want our kids back home, those who have left. And this was such a strong Force that brought us together. That's why we went to the primary process, and I won with 92% of the votes, Joe. And, and then we went to this absolutely throttle and scam election, and it turned into something that was much more than electoral. It was an existential fight. Struggle. And that's why Venezuela today has 90% of our population. Cohesive society. I, I dare to say probably The most cohesive society around the world. We all want the same. Not only getting rid of Maduro, of course, and he will go out, but how to turn this country into a really land of grace, and, and how we do this together. So this is very powerful, and that's why I, I want to convey this message. The transition in Venezuela to democracy will be orderly, will be stable, Because we have a whole country that wants the same, and that has been fighting for freedom and dignity…

AI assessment note: “Exactly. Exactly. And Venezuela was a cohesive society and he... looked to divide us”

Q car? So anyone who has money, it's like they stole it, I guess is what he would tell everyone. Tell us what his tactics were. Like how, like this obviously was convincing to people at the time. It's obviously not anymore. Like, like the, do people regret you think supporting this, some of this stuff? Do they, do they realize it was a mistake? Like, like what, what happened there?

A You mentioned my father, my dad was a visionary, not only, not only a common businessman. And, and he taught us that, you know, being, A real businessman was not only about making money, but creating wealth for all stakeholders and society. And, and he created many enterprises and people really admire and respected him. And, but he always said, you have a responsibility towards your nation, your country, the future generations. And, uh, and everything we had, we had it here. And when Hugo Chavez came to power, he took over more than 5000 ongoing companies and enterprises and business, and he confiscated them without paying the owners. He took over twenty two million acres of productive land, over 30% of the total amount of productive land in Venezuela, and he destroyed everything. From the tiny businessmen and businesses to the huge companies. Everything. Why? Because socialism needs to have a society dependent on the state. Begging with your hand like this and your head looking down. That's what they need. That's how they stay in power. Intentionally. They want people to be poor. They want to destroy the value of the money of the currency. And they want families separated. That's why migration was a strategy. We have over 30% of Venezuelan population that has been forced to flee. That was intentional. And that happens everywhere where socialism reaches power. And I do have one…

AI assessment note: “socialism needs to have a society dependent on the state... That's how they stay in power.”