Venezuelan Regime Kidnaps Yon Goicoechea, Friedman Prize Winner
Pro-democracy leader Yon Goicoechea, winner of the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, was arrested Monday in Venezuela. Goicoechea’s detention comes just prior to massive popular protests against the government that are planned for this Thursday. “Sticking to the pattern it has followed over the past few years as the crisis has deepened, the regime is doubling down on repression rather than adjusting to political or economic reality,” says Cato scholar Ian Vásquez. “His kidnapping shows just how insecure the regime has become and the importance of speaking truth to power.”