When installing the 11th National Student Vanguard Congress, the executive vice president of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, emphasized that young Venezuelans “are not only the future, they are the present.”
«It is always said that you are the future, but you are something more, you are the present. In Venezuela today, you who are digital advanced; “Look for what happens with young people in other countries,” said Rodríguez from La Carlota.
In that sense, he recalled that around the world there has been an attempt to stigmatize young people by calling them “generation Z” or with other adjectives to dismiss their strength.
On the other hand, Rodríguez recalled that in the Fourth Republic, students were criminalized, persecuted and murdered for thinking differently.
“This land that you cultivate today is stained with the blood of our martyrs, of our liberators, who offered their lives for that Venezuela that we are building today,” he said.
Today’s youth live in democracy
The executive vice president emphasized that young Venezuelans today live in democracy, they are not persecuted or murdered for their thoughts, as the extreme right did when it was in power.
“Those of us who did not have the options of a youth, who believed in a truly free Venezuela, an independent Venezuela, who were simply whipped by the surrender of Adeco-Copeyan governments, Puntofijismo (…) were a youth who felt that hope was leaving us, that hope was diffuse, that we did not see it in the future, because what we saw was a political elite dedicated to the designs of Washington,” he highlighted.
In the same way, he highlighted that “I see the pride and emotion of being among you, that each one of you grows in democracy, how each one of those who are here are spokespersons, who bring the word of their colleagues, who are another type of participation and democracy.”
Education to think
Rodríguez asserted that in the face of this technological revolution, in Venezuela education must be provided that teaches young people to think, especially in these moments when attempts are made to manipulate them and through social networks.
«Instruction is the happiness of life, and Venezuelan education, which must be quality education, must teach them to think, because we are in the middle of an unprecedented technological revolution that humanity is experiencing. Until now it can be said that Artificial Intelligence has positive applications, but there are those who warn of negative applications,” he added.
Likewise, he asked students to be prepared for the looming digital divide, especially the one that creates inequalities in the world.
