My TED Talk is LIVE. In 7 years as a political prisoner in Venezuela, I kept asking: who holds the keys to freedom? Now I have an answer. Open-source, decentralized technology can put power in the hands of ordinary people. Watch:
How to use tech to outsmart dictators
In seven years as a political prisoner in Venezuela, activist Leopoldo L贸pez kept asking one question: Who holds the keys to freedom? Now the lead...
#FreedomTech #Venezuela #TED
The case for a borderless internet
The transition has begun in Venezuela, but we are not yet where we want to be.
The destination is clear: freedom and democracy. And the path to achieving it is through free and fair elections for all Venezuelans.
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Autocracies don't need tanks to control a population. They need three things:
Control your speech. Control your money. Control your identity.
That's it. Master those three levers and you own a country without ever firing a shot.
馃У A thread on the architecture of modern autocracy 鈥 and why it's breaking.
Every autocrat knows the same trick.
Control communication. Control money. Control identity.
The technology changes. The pattern never does.
72% of humanity 鈥 5.7 billion people 鈥 lives under some form of autocratic rule.
The question is not whether the technology is powerful. The question is: who holds the keys?
Autocracy does not begin with handcuffs.
It begins when someone else holds the keys.
Your speech. Your money. Your identity. The moment those depend on someone else's permission 鈥 you are already not free.
That is not a metaphor. I learned it in a cell in Venezuela.
The technology to change this exists now.
The last time I saw my daughter Manuela before being taken to prison, she was dressed as Elsa from Frozen.
She had no idea what was happening. She just wanted to play.
I memorized that image. In the cell, when silence became unbearable, I would close my eyes and see her in that blue dress.
That's what autocracy does to families 鈥 it turns ordinary afternoons into last memories.
That's why this fight isn't abstract. It never was.
Three months after Maduro's capture, Venezuela has no constitutional president.
Delcy Rodr铆guez holds power through a Supreme Court ruling that invented a legal category 鈥 'forced absence' 鈥 that doesn't exist in the Constitution. It was designed to avoid triggering elections. It worked.
Meanwhile: Maduro faces narcoterrorism charges in a New York court. Dozens of political prisoners were released. Dozens more remain.
This isn't a democratic transition. It's Chavismo managing its survival.
Venezuela deserves elections. Not cosmetic changes. Not legal acrobatics. A genuine transition 鈥 built on democratic legitimacy, not a borrowed presidency propped up by a subservient court.
The clock is ticking. And the window won't stay open forever.
Mar铆a es enfermera en Caracas. Hace trabajo que salva vidas en una moneda dise帽ada para perder valor cada hora. Bitcoin le dio algo que el r茅gimen no pod铆a imprimir ni destruir: control. La libertad comienza cuando las llaves de tu dinero son tuyas.
Mar铆a is a nurse in Caracas. She does life-saving work in a currency designed to lose value by the hour. Bitcoin gave her something the regime could not print away: control. Freedom begins when the keys to your money are yours.
驴Qui茅n tiene las llaves de tu voz, tu dinero y tu inteligencia?
Si otro puede apagarlos, nunca fueron realmente tuyos.
La libertad en este siglo exige redes abiertas, herramientas soberanas y ciudadanos que no pidan permiso para pensar, hablar ni construir.
What鈥檚 the Tik Tok algorithm feeding ?
Leo vibe coding
Today I am in Oslo for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Mar铆a Corina Machado, a historic recognition for our struggle and for the Venezuelan people.
Here, I am reminded of something I have repeated for years, and which fully aligns with Mar铆a Corina鈥檚 message: there is no peace without freedom. That truth resonates more powerfully than ever at this crucial moment for our country.
From Oslo, I raise my hopes that Venezuelans will soon be able to return home, reunite with their families, and rebuild the free and democratic nation we deserve.
馃帴: andreinaperiodista
#NobelForVenezuela
鈥淣o puede haber paz si no hay libertad y no va a haber libertad si no sale Nicol谩s Maduro鈥
Hoy nos concentramos miles de venezolanos alrededor del mundo para respaldar a nuestra Premio Nobel de la Paz, Mar铆a Corina Machado, quien hoy representa junto a nuestro presidente Edmundo Gonz谩lez la lucha de los venezolanos por un pa铆s libre.
隆Vamos a ser libres!
