The U.S.-based Cato Institute has awarded Yon Goicoechea, a Venezuelan opposition student leader, the $500,000 Milton Friedman Prize for “Advancing Liberty.”
The libertarian Cato Institute promotes the “traditional American principles” of the free market, privatization of social security and is against environmental regulations to stop global warming. ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart, FedEx and Microsoft are among the Cato Institute’s donors according to the institute’s 2006 annual report.
Goicoechea, a law student attending a private University in Caracas, was chosen for his “passionate” organizing against the government of Chávez.
Goicoechea led student protests against the government’s decision to not renew the public broadcast license for RCTV, which had actively supported the U.S.-backed 2002 coup against Chávez and accumulated numerous broadcasting violations. He also helped organize protests against the 2007 constitutional referendum that would have, among other things, shortened the work day
and banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
