grown his online following<\/a> since moving to the U.S., creating content based on his experiences living under Venezuelan socialism.\u00a0<\/p>\nPresident of the YAF at UCF chapter, Jake Suggs, opened the forum with a simple question.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs America the greatest country in the world?\u201d Suggs asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The answer was not as simple, but it kick-started over two hours of conversation from both YAF members and passersby alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students engaged in and observed the discussions as Di Martino relayed advice and anecdotes about his life under socialism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s a very dangerous thing that I think is poisoning people’s minds,” Di Martino said. “It’s the envy, it’s people lacking understanding of what this country was founded on.”<\/p>\n
The crowd was filled with varying perspectives, but the longest conversation of the event was between Di Martino and freshman physics major, Pablo Valenzuela. The two held a heated exchange regarding socialist policy in Cuba, where Valenzuela\u2019s family is from.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow the United Nations will hold a historic vote once more for the embargo,\u201d Valenzuela said, following his debate. \u201cSo I came out here to speak against that and highlight some things about the Cuban Revolution that aren\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the later lecture, Di Martino praised Valenzuela for the conversation. He made clear in his closing remarks at the Q&A that he felt conversation was the best way to deal with polarization.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything comes at a price, nothing is free,\u201d Di Martino said. \u201cSo the question is not \u2018Do we want everyone to have great access to healthcare?\u2019 or \u2018Do we want everybody to have access to education?\u2019\u00a0\u2014 the question is how to get there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suggs elaborated on this point following Di Martino\u2019s presentation and conversations with other students at the Q&A and lecture events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs students I think our job is to facilitate conversations, we want to exchange a wide variety of ideas,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cThat\u2019s what a university is for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nature of the event warranted a heightened law enforcement presence around campus and in the surrounding area of the debates.<\/p>\n
Two snipers with the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department SWAT team were perched on top of the building, one on the far right and one in the center. UCF Police Department also worked in tandem with other Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Officers, alongside the YAF\u2019s private security around the perimeter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Security was also present at the evening lecture, with a mandatory metal detector prior to entering the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"UCF](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
Conservative speaker and economist\u00a0Daniel Di Martino engages in conversation with UCF Young Americans for Freedom during the “Socialism is Evil” lecture at the L3Harris Engineering Center on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Lola Fontanez<\/p>\n
The lecture provided a more intimate setting for Di Martino\u2019s presentation, as YAF members filled the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of these students, freshman electrical engineering major, Kevin Cornieles, felt drawn to the event in an effort to broaden his perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever a speaker comes, whatever political affiliation they are, I try to expand my worldview,\u201d Cornieles said. \u201cI felt like this was a good place to learn about someone\u2019s personal experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cornieles also felt a personal connection to Di Martino\u2019s background and lived experiences through his own upbringing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad is Venezuelan as well, so I\u2019ve always grown up hearing the socialist stories,\u201d said Cornieles. \u201cBut this guy is more involved and into the political sphere than my dad is, so I get to learn more about socialism as a whole\u2013 not just personal anecdotes from Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n
Di Martino gave a demonstration detailing his journey from Venezuela to America and the reasons he felt socialism had contributed to the economic struggles of his home country.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important thing is that people should be grateful to live in America,\u201d Di Martino said. \u201cThey need to understand why America is so prosperous\u2013 it is because we are free to do things with the least government intervention possible, and we need to restore that so the \u2018American Dream\u2019 stays alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservative speaker and economist\u00a0Daniel Di Martino responds to a student’s question at the Student Union stage for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1210,115,139,141,140,99,1211],"class_list":{"0":"post-32399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-life","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-student_organizations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32399","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=32399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}