DEPROGRAMMED: She was all in for socialism – until the ‘red flags’ became impossible to ignore

Venezuelan-American journalist Germania Rodriguez Poleo says she once supported some socialist policies and voted for Bernie Sanders, but later changed her view after comparing the ideas she encountered with Venezuela’s experience. She argues that young Americans should listen to people who have lived under socialist governments when assessing the risks of those policies.

Poleo emigrated to the United States at 11 and says her university education and immigrant experience shaped her earlier support for socialism. She distinguishes social democracy, which she says operates within capitalism, from socialism, which she describes as seeking to replace it. Poleo, narrator of the documentary “Escaping Venezuela”, cites Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua as examples and says Venezuela’s collapse should serve as a warning.