Florida middle and high school students will be required to learn about alleged human rights abuses and drug trafficking under former Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro as part of a \u201cHistory of Communism\u201d class.<\/p>\n
In an April 17 memo to school district superintendents, Paul Burns, senior chancellor of public schools for the Florida Department of Education, said the classes would be updated to include \u201cthe autocratic rule and subsequent fall\u201d of the Maduro regime in Venezuela for the 2026-2027 school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent developments in Venezuela offer an opportunity to broaden classroom discussion and explore how different systems of government affect citizens and societies,\u201d Burns wrote.<\/p>\n
The memo described some topics included in the new benchmarks: human rights abuses by the Maduro regime; ties between the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged drug trafficking group, and the Iranian government; and the history of international sanctions and legal actions against Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese benchmarks allow students to see history not as static facts but as something unfolding with real consequences today; an authentic opportunity, challenging them to engage as active participants in the protection of American liberty,\u201d Burns wrote.<\/p>\n
The Florida Board of Education approved adding Maduro to the state social studies standards in February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is real time information and I\u2019m glad we’re not waiting,\u201d said Board member Layla Collins at the time.<\/p>\n
Maduro became president in 2013, succeeding Hugo Chavez, and ruled Venezuela by decree granted through the ruling party since 2015. His administration was accused by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch of extrajudicial killings, charges which he has denied.<\/p>\n
Chavez was a military officer who attempted an unsuccessful coup in 1992. He was later pardoned and won election for president as a socialist in 1999. He suppressed press outlets who didn\u2019t favor his regime, jailed opponents and changed election laws to favor his party.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 3, the U.S. military conducted a pre-dawn strike in Venezuela that captured and flew Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to stand trial on federal charges, which involve narco-terrorism, trafficking and money laundering.<\/p>\n
The Maduros entered not guilty pleas two days later.<\/p>\n
History of communism became required instruction in 2024 after the Legislature passed a measure (SB 1264) which was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n
DeSantis has pushed for several anti-communist initiatives in his tenure as governor.<\/p>\n
In 2022, he signed House Bill 395, which established Nov. 7 Victims of Communism Day. On that day, public schools across the state must give at least 45 minutes of instruction on topics like Maduro; Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Revolution; Joseph Stalin and the Soviet System; Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution; Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution; or Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.<\/p>\n
The 2024 law expanded that requirement, and in November 2025, the DOE approved the \u201cHistory of Communism\u201d standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese standards are designed to enrich students\u2019 understanding of world history and help them engage thoughtfully with the complex political and social forces that have shaped our world and continue to do so today,\u201d Burns wrote in his memo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida middle and high school students will be required to learn about alleged human rights abuses and drug…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-239393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}