Amidst the warmth of summer in the United States, three immigrants reflect on escaping their home countries that struggled under socialist policies. Emmanuel Rincón, who fled Venezuela in 2017, shared his experience of a difficult life with frequent electricity and water shortages. “If you live in the USA, you will not experience or understand that,” he said. Rincón spent most of his life under the rule of Hugo Chavez and opposed the regime.

Eliécer Ávila, a Cuban immigrant in Florida, escaped Cuba in 2017. He described a life with scarce resources, dependent on what relatives in the U.S. sent. Ávila faced censorship, job termination, and was banned from Havana after questioning Ricardo Alarcón, Cuba’s former minister of foreign affairs. His activism for democracy led to him being jailed over 40 times and being labeled a terrorist for simply advocating freedom.

Gene Maine, who escaped the Soviet Union with his mother in 1981, recounted living under communism. He noticed propaganda on their limited TV channels that contradicted reality. The regime replaced traditional religions with communism, creating an environment lacking freedom of speech and belief.

Rincón emphasized the danger posed by dictators he labeled narco-terrorists. He stressed the lack of understanding in the U.S. about the harsh realities of socialism, pointing out that millions in Venezuela share stories similar to his.