Venezuelan activist and architect Javier Garcia Hernandez is only 37, but he's seen and been through more than anyone normally would in the US. Hernandez was in Atlanta recently and had a chance to talk with FEE president Lawrence W. Reed about what life in Venezuela is like.

"It is a wall built by the communist regime," Hernandez told Reed. "Unfortunately it is a consequence," he said, acknowledging that the current hardships were initially voted into existence in the elections that brought Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro to power. The day-to-day effects of these elections, begun almost 20 years ago, are seen in the wealthy, military-backed government, the closed borders, and the fear and weakness of the Venezuelan people.