356: THROWBACK: The Tragedy in Venezuela- with Hillary Andaluz Aguilar

Unknown Speaker  
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Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Faced with

Brian  
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Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Show. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Brian. I really appreciate it. It's been a while since I have talked to you.

Brian  
I know it's been so long time good old time. But yes, we went to college together and and obviously we got to know each other you from Venezuela, me from the United States. So yeah, give it give us some some background about who you are. And then I guess your experience growing up in Venezuela.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Okay, so I was, as I said, born Finish Line by PC mentor, which is the fourth largest city. It's four hours away from the Capitol, which is Caracas. I did high school there. And I started at university on UCLA, which is not the same as UCLA here. Is UCLA, a public university back home really good. And once I started university, I spent What is it two years there. And then I moved to the to the US back in 2011. So I started in March, I did my undergrad there, and I am currently in Indiana. I am attending Purdue University. And I'm pursuing a PhD in chemistry. And my research focuses on proteomics and early cancer detection. So that's a little bit about me. I've been here for eight years now.

Brian  
And you came like you said to America in 2011. And that was pretty much like at that sweet spot in Venezuela where things weren't, I guess from an American perspective, and correct me if I'm wrong, things didn't look that bad. From our perspective.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Yes, things didn't look at that as they are. Now However, by then by 2011, Chavez was in the still in the power, he's still alive. And it was like 12 years of his regime. So from the outside, probably people here and in other countries, you couldn't see how bad it was. But Brazil was pretty bad. And I actually ended up coming to the US escaping that situation. I couldn't go attend. Yeah, I had to escape from that. And I remember telling my mom like, well, I like I was here a couple of times, I was like, I'd like to do as I love finish, when I don't want to leave, I can't leave, I can leave my family and everything behind. I went to college and everything. But I actually had to leave like because I was escaping a situation with the regime. So let me

Brian  
say I don't mean to interrupt. I'm just I'm fascinated because everything that we've been told in America, and what you see on the mainstream media and on the news every night is that things were okay. Things were actually thriving up until Hugo Chavez passed away. And then Maduro took over and that's when things got bad. But you're saying basically, no, 2011, like two years before Chavez basically passed away. Things were still pretty bad.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
What was really? Yeah, what

Brian  
was like life? Like I mean, what was that about Venezuela from? I mean, you obviously living there versus what we were told.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
So well, when Thomas came to the power, it was 1999. So I was eight years old. So I barely lived the era of the other governments. So all I know is, as I said, there's a Chavez routine, which has, which was or whichever. It's actually communist regimes and dictatorship. So we started seeing that inflation that massive inflation going up, of course, we sit on the highest oil reserves. So Venezuela was a rich country. So they it took them a while to just you know that to take all that money away. And how can I put it this way? Like, how can I say, to make it seem as bad as it is today to the international community, but back in Venezuela, it was a big division between like, Travis was expropriating hates for, like a lot of companies like phone companies. And even my dad lost his job because of the charges rigging. They took away his job. Part of my mom's job was taken by him and she's in the private practice. He's an accountant. So things were starting to look bad ever. I think it was 2002 when all the oil prices started falling, and then we started experiencing the highest like the massive inflation it wasn't the hyperinflation, but it was a massive inflation in part, and then by 2007 Chavez cut How can I say this he took five zeros out of our currency because of the inflation So back in 2011, things were horrible because I remember going to college I graduated high school, a security industries were awful. You we were back in 2007. As I said, the inflation was massive. And people are just protesting in the streets because they want to the child is working to go out and he even was forced to leave. There was another government for like two days and he came back. So there's a lot of history in between and growing. But growing up in that turmoil was definitely it was just a tragedy. Still, people were able to survive still, you know, the salary, more or less, you could do something with the salary. So like a salary right now, which is is only able to buy you two eggs, but what I'm saying it was a continuous, you know, degradation. I don't know how to explain it. The second team has depredations since ever since it took the power in 1999 by 2011. He was already 12 years of his, you know, of his time being and Then, it just it's just a dictatorship responsible for countless human rights abuses. Definitely a lot of political prisoners were disabled, exiled or banned from running. So there was a lot of injustices back in like all the National Assembly and everything that was before Maduro came into power which turned everything worse. And I'd like to say it's not that he turned everything worse. I think it's just the product of that ideal that Chavez set in set in Venezuela.

Brian  
Hey, what's up, folks, it's Brian Nichols here in The Brian Nichols Show. If you're listening to The Brian Nichols Show, then you know that I'm a huge workout junkie right? But working out and lifting weights is just half of living a healthy lifestyle. What you put in your body is just as important as your workout which is why I only eat meats from butcher box butcher box delivers 100% grass fed beef free range organic chicken and heritage breed pork directly to your door think about that like your neighborhood butcher for modern America and let me tell you their meats are phenomenal juicy chicken breasts tender filet, flavorful sirloin tips butcher box makes it easy for you to get the highest quality meat delivered right to your door and right now listeners with The Brian Nichols Show can get three pounds of free range organic chicken wings Free for life free shipping and a discount on your order. Yeah, you read that right free Wings for Life. Click the link or email me at Brian at Brian Nichols show.com to receive your exclusive promo code to take advantage of this amazing promotion great meats Fried Chicken Wings for Life delivered right to your door. I mean, what more could you want and this is actually fascinating to me because obviously back when we were in college It's no secret I was very involved in politics and I still am very involved in politics but I don't think during the time that we were together on campus we actually ever sat down and talked about politics i don't think you and I actually had a conversation about politics so it's fascinating for me to hear you speak to this because it's it's no secret that in 2019 ideas and concepts around communism and socialism they're discussed as these you know these these visions of utopia almost in everybody's talking like well, we just got to do socialism and communism right. And I mean, here you are Hitler, you grew up under this communist socialist dictatorship and you got to experience the fruits of the system and in many cases the lack thereof of just you know, like you mentioned people quite literally losing your jobs to the government hyperinflation people not being able to eat and you mentioned paying an entire paycheck for two eggs I guess if you could because you've looked at tell us your experience living under these these communist and socialist socialist regimes obviously starting back with it with Chavez and then we'll start discuss Maduro

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
okay so back when Chavez came to power I was 80 years old things started to get worse as I said 2020 1000 and treat with 2003 when oil prices I'm trying to remember all that because I was pretty young but our oil prices start started dropping and since all our economy depended on the on the oil and Chavez the mismanagement and corruption with the Chavez government was massive there was no gas industry to remember we couldn't put gas in our cars and I remember my mom and I going into this like two hour away places and do a doing a line of like overnight just to get our our tank yeah this to get the tank on our cart and I'm talking about I was 1012 years old and experiencing this and seeing this as a normal thing because I haven't by then I was not like oh yeah I've been to the US and I've been to this other countries I didn't know any better so I thought that was just you know, normal you know, not be doing anything else. I didn't know anything else I didn't know any better. And I remember that episode lasted for a while of you know, we have the highest oil research and how does it make any sense for me to go with my mom that midnight, so this place two hours away to get my cart like full of gas, it didn't make any sense it started with that. Then the education started breaking up and with that being a lot of professors started you know, fly away from the country they didn't want to be there because the government basically didn't pay them. So a lot of the university started like shutting down classes and you have protests and well, universities did that like schools that that as well. I remember not having classes for a good period of time when I was in elementary school. And then when I got into UCLA, which is a public school back in 2009, I got there for med school, and I wanted to say is a very good university. I remember when I got in there were like, Yeah, you got in, but you're not gonna be able to start med school till 2011. And I yeah, but But yeah, I was like, I don't understand why am I not able to start and they're like, well Students are protesting and they're like, behind a couple semesters were lacking. Some of the professors are there like striking. And, you know, hunger strikes, you know, people protesting because of, you know, not having equipment, not being paid a good salary. University lacks a lot of the, you know, facilities. So, back then it was, it was horrible. There's a lot of things happening. And I remember seeing saying, like, I'm not going to just spend two years doing nothing. So I started learning English. And I remember seeking an opportunity with somebody in Caracas, which is the capital to try to leave the country because I was like, I don't think I'm going to go anywhere with this. And yeah, I was like, I need to go somewhere else, I need to learn English, I need to do something. So I learned English, I took the you know, the SAP and the TOEFL by then I remember. But then I still, I was still scared of just leaving the country. So instead of med school, I went through another route, which is agro industrial engineering. But since they had, they were starting a little earlier. And I was like, Well, if anything is the same university, I'll just transfer to med school later. And when I started, they stopped the classes, people protested, like on a daily basis, there was lack of everything, like classrooms didn't have chairs, they didn't have enough tables, professors didn't go, I'm telling you that in my car, I had a little bag with vinegar with a little like towel just in case they will pour bumps, because that was normal, they would go in for bumps as a sign of protest, and you have to like literally exit the university, go into your car, or whatever. And I would put the vinegar on my mouth with a little towel just to breathe and be able to get out of there. That happened a couple of times. And after that, I was like, it's it's enough. You know, I definitely want to grow up in a country where I had a freedom of speech. Because if you were talking about about the that about the government, I mean, of course, they would do something to us. So I had to leave, I remember telling my mom, I think I want to leave and seek better opportunities, like outside the country. And by then I remember my dad was like, well, it's not that bad, I think it's gonna get better. And I was like, I don't think it's gonna get any better. Like, I'm experiencing it, I can barely go to the university. So I did two years, barely two years in which I proved not even two semesters and that semester and a half in two years. So that tells you how, you know how bad word to protest and how it was not the education was not continuous.

Brian  
And obviously, then you come to United States to Yes, rotation. And then in 20, so here you have like a two year window will say where you start coming to America for continuing education, and just seeing things at home, continue to devolve and obviously it goes up until March of 2013 where at the time it was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez he passes away from cancer after this 14 year long rule. And I mean obviously he was he was proclaimed as like this visionary for 21st century socialism and then afterwards you had his vice president who is Nicolas Maduro taking office so let's go from 2011 to you're moving to the United States and then watching up till 2013 when when Maduro eventually takes over what was life like in Venezuela in that timeframe?

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Horrible I think it turned out or is that it was when I grew up as I said a lot of division before Maduro a lot of division between who had like the people the poor people let's put it this way. He created a lot of resentment between the masses you know like the poor people should be angry at the people who who had more bad education in his professional and then with Maduro all of that just accentuated so we saw a lot of that part like stronger as I said, in the in the society and what was worse is that back when I lived in Venezuela and I remember even though there was a huge You know, there's a lot of corruption and everything I mean, I could still go to a pharmacy and get Tylenol you know, ibuprofen just those are basics, you know, and go to a bakery and get bread and go to a supermarket and get food you know, I'm back with Maduro things starting like started getting worse and worse because there was basically no goods you know, no medicine so I remember my family call started, like calling me because Can you find this medicine in the US or can you come with Tylenol? Can you come with toilet paper? And I was like, I don't get it. You know, like, how is this happening? How is this going to get into this point? You know, so when I lived here, I remember after Chavez died, I thought things were going to get better because I was like, okay, the dictatorship. It's over. It's over. It's over. And that's when we did the presidential elections between the doodle and Enrique capreolus, which was back in 2013. So we won the election sexually. And then Maduro took over even though we won the elections. And then that's when the first part of the protests began, which was, yeah, back in 2013 2014. massive protests. There's that's a hundreds of students, hunger strikes. I remember I was backing in Myra. And I was like, Well, a lot of my friends were still living back home and one of them might actually got shot in his head. Yes, one of my close friends shot in his head, and I was in Elmira, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't go back home. I couldn't do anything. And they all have this massive protests. And you see all of this deaths and all these people just claiming for democracy because obviously, the elections were stolen from us. And then back in 2015, when the national parliamentary elections we won 60% of the National Assembly, the National Constituent Assembly in December 2015.

And then there were more massive protests because Maduro says we want most of the opposition which is our party, he established a new Constitutional Assembly who was basically handpicked by him instead of elected legitimately so he came in he was like, I don't like it I really don't like that all these people are you know, 60% are the opposition leaders so I'm just gonna create my own house and my own Parliament so that's what he did and again all this massive protests after the fraud elections started again so there's been a lot of you know, blood a lot of like killings a lot of people being affected by all of these and back back home of course my family was terrified all of this protests sometimes were held very close to my neighborhood or at my neighborhood and I remember not being able to communicate with my family because there was no internet and then being scared when I was able to communicate with them I could hear literally the shootings outside and they're all being scared like literally almost underneath their bed like we can talk right now or something and I was terrified my grandpa still lives there you know my family my parents mostly so it's helpful and then me having to it used to be the opposite right? Like I lived there and when I came here my parents helped me with you know, the money and everything Of course, I got a scholarship and all of that but then he was the total opposite was me sending money to them because you know, salary wasn't enough medicines they could apply medicines, my dad or soccer from the heart my my grandpa has prostate and heart issues so he needs to continuously have like this medicine. So I had to look through the medicines through Colombia, for instance, because here you need a prescription and the prescriptions were in Spanish. I tried here, and it was hard for me to get them. So it it was at that point where I had to like basically send them money and still have to do it, send them the medicines because the it was barely it was impossible in between all that in the process of protesting. I will scare pretty much all day because I was like, one of these days, my parents are gonna get killed just because somebody is going to shoot in the air. And just like millions of other people have died. You know, this is going to happen to my parents. So I lived terrified. When this protest, things begin after presidential elections. And then after the establishment of that new Constitutional Assembly created by Magoo, which was prior to the presidential elections in 2018.

Brian  
Wow. It's it's fascinating and tragic. At the same time to hear this because, I mean, I'm gonna be very honest with you, Hillary, I don't think anybody in America really heard the story, pre 2013 of what was happening in Venezuela, because we were under the impression, I mean, and we see people like Michael Moore, or Jeremy Corbyn over in the United Kingdom, who were singing the praises of Hugo Chavez saying, Look at Venezuela, this is what your socialist utopia can look like. I mean, look at all the people are being taken care of. But you're saying basically from living it, that's not the case at all is the exact opposite.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
No, that's not the case at all. And I see a lot of people here Well, what Chavez was great and a few were traveling and his ideas were like, you didn't live through that era, and you didn't live through it. So it's really it doesn't it's, it's just not fair to talk about it without experiencing it. It's not utopia, definitely his ideals. He created us I said, a lot of resentment between classes. So if you were well educated, and your family was well off, or middle class, you know, he created a lot of resentment towards those people because those people didn't deserve the amount of money they have. And he created that resentment that the poor should have You know the same as us, but not because of working hard but because we have to take it away from them. So a lot of his speeches were like, just let's like, take this company and let's sake this other one, he took away a lot of companies from people that you know, that worked with them for their entire life. And there's a lot of people that died in hunger strikes just claiming for that to get back to them. Does it seem like though those farmers the farmers and people that I saw because I lived through that era were like, dying, like please give me back my farm, this is my whole life this, this been my family's business for, I don't know, 5080 100 years and you're going to take it away from me because you just want to, because you're going to make it better and in the end, it didn't make it better. Like as you see the results after 20 years, it never made it better. It's just a lot of resentment. Not to mention a lot of the political prisoners Not to mention a lot of the abuses as I said once he like all of the five zeros that I told you he took out from like the are are from the currency or the debt or whatever currency and now he took it and then McGruder took two more so it's like seven zeros and that didn't happen after one Maduro was in power no that happened 22,007 talking about like years back that this has been happening for a while and this ideology and everything that Maduro and all of it pregnancy product of all of this child is favoring just law I'm not even gonna say favoring by just giving the he established a lot of programs for the app for people but he keep those programs where we're a fraud to he meant to graduate people from med school in two years. I don't think that's fair for people that actually goes through the mess med school process for like five or six years I don't know if you understand what I'm saying. Yeah, those programs were fraud. He tried to you know, oh yeah, you can be like those rich people are well educated people so I'm going to give you the same but you're going to graduate in two years. So the sentence

Brian  
the quality is what you're saying when

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
quality was awful quality they were not good professionals. So he tried to create it engineers and you know, medical, you know and these in two year programs and it didn't work for people and of course they don't work but people that didn't go to school ever so he tried to favor like I mean not really favorite but you know what I'm saying that those that that part of the he was a populist, right?

Brian  
Trying to make these programs essentially saying look at what everybody else has, you should have that too so I'm going to make it that it's a right and we're going to give it to you but the problem is once it becomes so I'm not sure if you've watched the movie The Incredibles it's the Pixar movie that came out and there's one okay so there's one line with the bad guy syndrome goes he's negative so the person behind the movie is that syndrome is this kid that got picked on by Mr. Incredible and he ends up like he wants to become a superhero so he gets really smart and he makes all these you know, crazy gadgets and he said you can give these to anybody and they become Superman superheroes and one of the iconic quotes is because when everybody's super nobody is so essentially it's almost the exact same thing that you experience only from an educational standpoint saying when everybody is super educated and I'm using super educated very very lightly but once everybody becomes educated The reality is that really doesn't have much weight because the quality of the education isn't worth as much but also the fact that there are so many people out there that it really hurts the market because now the the good doctors and the people who work their way through the process, they aren't as valued on the market because now the average Joe can become a doctor without any the exact same education or the the lab time or what have you.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Yes, correct. That's exactly what happened with his like, you know, programs as he called them back then back then. So this programs were just a fraud. He spent a lot of money there not to mention, he he's, as I said, he took a lot of the public the other jobs and everything like my dad is living proof of that. But he had his own private you know, he's a businessman, he has his own private he rented some equipment for Yeah, he rents some equipment and then literally the government took that away from him because he was like, Oh, you're not going to do that anymore. I'm going to do it I'm gonna have my people do it because my companies and one that's going to like now do all of this events all around, but it's telcos which are called like fers like natural hair. Oh,

Brian  
okay. Interesting. So I gotta ask this question because I just think it's very curious. You know, obviously you growing up in Venezuela, and it's experiencing the socialist and communist society that it was, and unfortunately still is, and then coming to America and then starting in 2015 really I think that's when we really started to notice it. But you have this this festering notion amongst especially people in our age group in the the millennial group who they look at this idea of socialism and they say it's democratic socialism. They say, Hey, you know, this seems like a good idea. I mean, you have people like Bernie Sanders, or Alexandria, ocasio Cortez who are running on the idea of I mean, like you were even mentioning right now we're seeing this today creating this disparity between the rich and the poor saying look at what these people have. We should have that too. Do you get a little nervous when you see that same rhetoric coming to America?

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Yes definitely. I get not a little I get very nervous because I don't know if I'm wrong maybe but I just see again you know the same speech that Google Chavez gave back when he was elected like I remember hearing that all over again we're going to create we're going to be going to like make everyone equal and we're going to like everyone should have the same and yeah it just get on my nerves to sound like maybe you've never experienced that but in my case maybe of course our cases a lot of it's it's a dictatorship and it's a communism, but again, it gets on my nerves it gets me pretty nervous because I'm like, please don't please don't please don't leave Oh, I'm not an expert in politics but I all I can tell you that we suffer a lot and that's the reason why I'm here and I'm eternally grateful but on the first place I didn't want to leave my country I didn't want to leave what I knew I didn't want to leave my parents my food my traditions my culture my everything you know, I my life set there and here well I have to I have to start from zero like back in Elmira, they didn't validate my two years of engineering data and how even have engineering so I have to start all over again and see what I liked. That's how I came up with chemistry which as I said, I'm extremely grateful and I'm happy but seeing that disparity right now that I can eat three meals a day and then I look home look back at the people home even my own parents even my own family that can barely afford to have you know a regular meal or that can afford to eat tuna which is something that here we take for granted you know kind of tuna is what 60 6070 cents yeah exactly back home it's like that I heard that the other day is like oh that only the rich people eat to that like canned tuna I'm like this is this is ridiculous you know people don't don't understand like how how bad it worked for us I'm not saying it's gonna work out for everyone else but I'm just saying like as of now you see hospitals with no beds you see cancer patients dying in the streets and like protesting and saying please like give us a treatment give us give it I haven't been able to have chemotherapy years or months because of this regime there's you know if you see the news is it's it's upsetting it's it's a Friday tragedy and I've been able to take my family like out of that because thank God I'm here and I you know have a stipend which is not too much as I'm still doing my PhD but I can help them what how about all those families that haven't been able to exactly that you know, I'm privileged because I'm here and I and I, you know, I went out of Venezuela, I think early enough, I want to say, but I have a lot of friends that haven't had the same luck. It's so sad. It is pretty sad. Like treatments I've been able to buy the treatments for my dad and my grandpa and for my family but how about all those other people I've had experiences of friends that have lost or lost their loved ones because of that my grandma sister died because of that she couldn't find her treatments so we tried to look for them and suddenly she passed away you know, health doesn't wait you know you can't wait a letter like that. You know what I'm saying? Like it's just very hard and sad

Brian  
in this part of the reason that I wanted to have you on hillary because so in my audience I'm saying this this is all redundant for them but my show so it's part of what's called the we are libertarians network. And the idea of a libertarian really, if you're to break it down is is to not hurt people and not take people's stuff and to build a society where free markets, ingenuity, peace, tolerance, those are all ideals that are embraced and really again, it comes down to the idea of not hurting someone else and not taking somebody else's you know, their stuff, not taking their their labor, not taking their their money not taking away from their personal effects. And it's one thing for me to basically go and scream until I'm blue in the face about how dangerous socialism and communism is. But at the end of the day, I'm just another white guy who grew up in America privileged and I like I don't know what I'm talking about. But have you who you literally you grew up in you experienced it. You think that That that label can't be used against you, you can't be identified as this, this privileged group in America who they just don't know what it's like because they're there, you know, the the well to do and whatnot, like you've actually lived it, you've seen how terrible it is. And it's sad because a lot of people nowadays in America who embrace this populist socialists message, they go out of their way to silence voices, like like myself like you, because what you're saying is against what they're being told. And it's, it's scary, because what we're promoting and especially what you're promoting because of your experience is stop, this is so dangerous, it's going to lead down a very scary path. And we're already kind of seeing it happen before our eyes.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Definitely, definitely. And mostly what I hear people saying is that like, oh, what's happened is that us back home, and I think you've heard it, there's it's everywhere. Media. I'm like, what is happening in Venezuela is not a us back coop, come on. At this point. I feel it's not even a fight between left or right or ideologies. But I have to say this is a product of that imminent, left ideas of those imminent left ideas, see what i'm saying, but is a product but as of now it has converted into a humanitarian crisis is literally the fight of most, if not all, Venezuela, to democratically get rid of a dictatorship. This is what we're seeking, and it can't get any worse. Ryan literally can get an worth is what I'm telling you is nothing compared to what we actually experienced and what my family has experienced than my friends and people that I know. It's not the country, you know, even when I left 2011 it's not the country that I left. I went there last year and is of setting it looks like a war zone. I went there August 2018. I had to go there I I don't stop going there because my family's still there. And I you know, I still go. And it's like a warzone people eating from trash cans. like drinking and I'm not telling you from rural areas. And you know, every country has poverty. No, no, I'm telling you that this is on every single area people eat from trash cans, drinking water from the sewage, markets, not having anything long lines to get a piece of bread. And they I experienced that. You go you go and buy food and you need to have this, you know, your ID and if your ID ends in this number, then you're able to go this day of the week. And if it ends in one, it's on Mondays, if it ends on Tuesday on Tuesdays, for example. Like that's not life. And then when you go there, it's whatever they have, maybe and they literally, they tell you what to take, oh, you can only take one toothpaste and one toilet paper and one piece of bread. My mom when I was there, that was back in August, she went there to buy some medicines. And they were like, No, we we can only sell you like this little and my mom was like, but this is for treatment. And they're like, no, it doesn't matter. Like we can only sell you this. And there's no not even perfect, as I said, acetaminophen, there's nothing, it's just pretty upsetting how bad it is I was there, I experienced that every year I go to Venezuela and it's it just gets worse, the supermarkets are completely empty, they just sell one or two things and you have to do a make a big line and pay this ridiculously high prices that nobody's able to afford. So people are just, you know, going to malls or anywhere and grabbing any leftovers from the garbage cans, because only the people that are in the government have money. Everyone else is just starting to that.

Brian  
It's well, it's um, it's heartbreaking. It's actually hard for me to even think about what to say after that. Because I mean, it's just, this isn't what we've been told in America. Like, it's, it's almost like discovering that there's an entire truth that has been hidden from you this entire time. And it's almost like is intentionally hidden. It's it's kind of it's very eye opening for myself, and I'm sure it's gonna be very eye opening for my audience. But I mean with that, it's it's amazing. We're already at the point where we're getting ready to wrap up the show, but I think if we could end the show on this note, it's if you could Hillary to the millennials of 2019, who have this embrace of this democratic socialism in America. What warning or what advice would you give to them going forward into the 2020 elections and then I guess forward here in america

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
that's a tough one. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. Because there's

I've heard and I'm not a specialist, that is socialism is applied the right way to know which one is the right way.

Unknown Speaker  
It's always the right way.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
And it is always the right yeah, the right way that it could lead to great things, I have to say that in my experience, be careful. Be careful with the leaders you choose, be careful with the ideals you you want for your country use, be careful and look yourself, look at other countries look at us look at other countries like Nicaragua, like experiencing a similar situation. And look at how everything started with a leader that portrayed himself as socialists, that everything's gonna be good or populism promised a lot of things. And in the end, none of it happened. Because Charvis at the beginning, he won the elections, very clean, and by a massive amount of votes, but by saying all things like the things that he was going to promise and everything, and he did not, so I'm just gonna be very careful with this, but just just be cautious, be cautious and think twice before stating that, you know, the socialism or the stating that that's a good idea.

Brian  
It's so hard. It's so hard because it's hard because I

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
want to like you know, say something that's politically wrong, but in my experience, while he then it ended this way and other countries like Cuba, you know, as I said, Nicaragua, look at them, you know, look at how it started. Just look at the history. I think

Brian  
the important thing too is that people have to look at the the outcomes versus the intentions. So it's great to go into a situation with all the very positive lofty intentions, but you really have to look and see what was the outcome what actually happened. And like you said, look at look at Venezuela perfect example. I mean, last week, I had Lily Tang Williamson, she grew up under Mao's communist regime in China and her experience growing up under Mao's China it's just it's it's really eye opening and I think it's very important for people to to hear I don't care if they're they're Democrat, Republican, libertarian socialist, I don't care like just to hear what is really happening like get rid of the media filter, get rid of social media filter, like just just the raw truth of this is what is happening. This is what you've experienced, not just in your own family, but you're seeing it across the entire nation so I mean, folks, if you can please share today's episode obviously with your friends and family I think it's very, very important for them to hear Hillary's message, though that Hillary at the end of the show Let's Let's end the show on a positive note shall be a little thing. So one thing I like to do at the end of the show, I've been doing this as a way is to get a fun fact from my guest. So to close up the show Hillary and the Luiz Aguilar if you could a fun fact about you. And then if people are interested in learning more about Venezuela or just learning more about you, or maybe social media links, where can they go ahead and find you?

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Okay, facts about me that's a little I have a couple of them. I don't know if this is a fun fact. But I love dancing I love like I does flamenco dance meaning either salsa and you know I'm just a natural Latina I don't know that's like, you know, I know every time I say that here everyone's really like happy Oh my god, show me how to dance. And I'm I love to, you know, show people how to dance and I does flamenco professionally. So I remember that. That's a fun fact that counts.

Brian  
Oh, 100% counts. That's incredibly

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
Come on. Right? Not everyone does. That. Oh, I think that's it. That's just

Brian  
see if I remember correctly. So Elmira is a unique college and it has three terms. I think during term three, you did the ballroom dancing, didn't you? Yes, I

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
guess I did with Henry. Yes.

Brian  
There you go. That's right. It was absolutely phenomenal. Because you two actually knew how to dance. Everybody just sat there. And you know, Matt was a gape in all of your, your very fluid movements. So yes, it's all great. It's a very fun fact. And I'm not sure if you want to share, like we're working folks, go ahead and find you if they're interested in learning more about Venezuela are interested in following your happenings.

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
There's a couple of Instagram and Facebook links, okay. I don't know if I can send those to you or something as my social media. Yeah, and my social media, my Instagram is Hillary and then it's Hillary Andalus. Just my full name. Same with my Facebook, I post a lot of the news. But I think there are other web pages that web pages and links that I can send you later so you can get them when you put this podcast so people can help actually there's a lot of other other places where people can help people that are feeling good for and the elder because of this war thing and the, you know, the US trying to come in and all of that going on. There's a lot people claiming for help and people starving as usual. You know it sounds pretty bad but yes, it is as usual,

Brian  
and research places to help at least we have

Hillary Andaluz Aguilar  
places to help and I would like love to give you a couple of links. Absolutely, maybe donate something it would be great for the community back home. I do that every every time that I can for feeding the elder feeding the children feeding the people back in the streets.

Brian  
Already folks that's gonna wrap up our conversation with Hilary Andalus Aguilar, our throwback episode to February, February, March 2019. Yeah, February 2019. There we go. A great conversation. So thank you Hillary for that classic conversation. And folks, if you enjoyed this episode, please do me a solid make sure you go ahead and give it a share. And when you do, make sure you go ahead and tell yours truly add to be Nichols Liberty coming up. Tomorrow, we're going to have a solo short with yours truly, or with our good friend, Chris Goyzueta. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. So the surprise is just as surprising as it will be for you as it will be for me. So with that being said, Thank you for joining us on today's special throwback episode. It's Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for Hillary Andalus Aguilar, we'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Brian Nichols Show. Find more episodes at The Brian Nichols show.com if you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe. Want to help us reach more people? Give the show a five star review and tell your friends to subscribe to find us at Brian Nichols show.com and download the show on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow me on social media at V. Nichols liberty and consider donating to the show at Brian Nichols show.com forward slash support. The Brian Nichols Show is supported by viewers like you. Thank you to our patrons Darryl Smith, Maura Stanley, Mike olema, Mitchell megabits, Cody Johns Creek d'acosta, and the we're libertarians network. Trust the experts we're all in this together. If it saves one life, raise your hand if you've heard any of those tiresome phrases over the past year and a half. I know my hand is currently raised millions of people across dozens of industries are labeled on essential and forced the lockdown but livelihoods and futures crushed in an instant and as government has continued to expand its power and leverage fear to turn neighbor against neighbor a group of filmmakers have taken a stand and are determined to help set the record straight on the importance of following the actual science of the pandemic. Follow the science on lockdowns in Liberty from the sound mind creative group is a brand new docu series highlighting the stories of those negatively impacted over the past year and a half by ineffective government policies enacted in the name of following the science with noted experts like Nick Hudson from panda the pandemic data analytics organization healthcare policy advisors like Scott Atlas and telling stories of business owners families and just your average everyday person harmed by these government mandates follow the science on lock downs and liberty is giving us a chance to make sure the true stories of the pandemic our tool so please help us at The Brian Nichols Show in supporting the sound mind creative group with noted figures in the Liberty movement like Dr. Tom Woods donating 1000s of their own dollars to this project. You know just how important this project is. So head The Brian Nichols show.com forward slash follow the science to donate and catch their brand new trailer to the docu series one more time. That's Brian Nichols show.com for slash follow the science.

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