Weather 
The fall of Venezuela’s socialist regime marks a generational turning point akin to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, according to an energy expert who says the scenes unfolding there echo the jubilation of people once trapped behind the Iron Curtain.
Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Energy and Conservation and the daughter of parents who escaped the Soviet Union, told Fox News Digital that Venezuela’s upheaval represents not just a political shift, but a restoration of freedom after decades of authoritarian rule.
“You look back at the imagery and kind of the fervor and excitement of people who were kept behind the Iron Curtain, you see that same excitement and that same jubilation of having freedom restored to the people of Venezuela,” Hoffman said Monday.
“America first does not mean America alone. Socialism is a horrible, wretched system ideology you shouldn’t wish on anyone,” she added. “And I think the Venezuela case study… if they get freedom restored back to them, we will look at this time and reflect that even in countries that go socialist, freedom can be restored if the right tools are in place and if the horrible dictators are deposed.”
OIL EXPERTS PREDICT SLIGHT RISE IN GAS PRICES AS GLOBAL TENSIONS MOUNT
On Saturday, U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s leader and alleged narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro, bringing him to New York where he will face four federal criminal charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Hoffman explained how Maduro used the socialist regime set up by former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to nationalize and weaponize the country’s oil supply, which represents one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Reuters reported that oil prices rose just over 1% in reaction to potential U.S. impacts on crude flow from Venezuela.
“[Chávez, Maduro], you see them using oil as a cudgel and as a continuation of their dictatorship, and depressing oil production, too, and nationalizing it so only the state and not private actors can own oil,” she said. “Oil was used as a weapon to keep that regime afloat to perhaps contort and twist OPEC markets. And now that the U.S. is likely taking over the oil industry on a temporary basis, we will likely see the valuation of oil go up. We’ll probably see production go up in the short term.”
“If this plan were to succeed with the U.S. having a greater, outside role in Venezuela’s oil markets and industry, we will see the U.S. control, ideally, or very likely, 44% of global oil from Alaska to Patagonia.”
Privatization of Venezuela’s oil may be the only path to recovery, according to Hoffman, who said Venezuela cannot revive its energy sector without abandoning collectivism and restoring private enterprise.
“We keep hearing about, ‘the warmth of collectivism.’ And as we saw in Venezuela, it was not warm,” Hoffman said. “If things truly become privatized, we will see that space definitely revolutionized, perhaps be on par with the United States… and compete with us. That would be nice to see, rather than seeing oil and gas reserves used for, manipulated and abused under the guise of narco-terrorism.”
Pulling from her own family’s experiences with socialism, the energy expert rebuked claims that Maduro was “kidnapped” or that U.S. action was solely about oil.
“It’s very interesting to see the reaction of mostly Generation Z and Generation Alpha crying and being very distraught over the deposing of Nicolás Maduro, who was not duly elected. He was a dictator. He had lots of international and domestic warrants out for his arrest. He’s not the good guy here,” Hoffman responded. “To say that Venezuela and freeing Venezuela of Maduro is only about oil is a small piece of the pie.”
“The problems of collectivism [are] that it destroys energy markets, and it destroys energy industries… But it’s also a reminder that a lot of young people are not properly educated about the horrors of communism and socialism… Anytime a collectivist is tried, it always leads to authoritarianism and a loss of freedom.”
Venezuela thus serves as a cautionary tale for the U.S. and younger generations flirting with socialism, Hoffman said.
“It’s a reminder that freedom is precious and fragile, and you can lose it and not know it,” she said. “[Venezuela] is a perfect, perfect example of why this experiment of socialism fails no matter how it’s caveated, no matter if it has cutesy qualifiers.”
READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS
