Dissident from Caracas Nine Awarded Cato Liberty Prize

NEW YORK (April 30, 2008) -- Embattled Venezuelan student leader Yon Goicoechea is the fourth recipient of the Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. Last November, Mr. Goicoechea was chosen by the Human Rights Foundation as one of nine illustrative cases of human rights violations occurring in Venezuela. He became Number Two of the Caracas Nine (www.CaracasNine.com).

“This is a magnificent gift from the Cato Institute to the cause of human dignity and freedom in Latin America,” said Thor Halvorssen, HRF’s president. “Yon Goicoechea is a symbol of hope and courage and this honor is the freedom equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize,” he added.

Since early 2007, Mr. Goicoechea and his classmates chose to publicly oppose the violations of human rights by the Venezuelan government. Prompted by the shutdown of public broadcasting station Radio Caracas Television (see www.FreeRCTV.com), they organized a student protest that lasted for months and underlined the importance of safeguarding individual rights and preventing the expansion of unchecked government power. Mr. Goicoechea has stated that he will use the $500,000 cash prize to start a foundation to encourage student activism for democracy.

Previous recipients of the Cato Institute’s prize include HRF International Council member Mart Laar, a student who led Estonia’s Singing Revolution and later became emancipated Estonia’s Prime Minister; Peruvian activist Hernando de Soto; and British economist Peter Bauer. More information about the award for Yon Goicoechea and information surrounding the festivities can be found at: http://www.cato.org/special/friedman/goicoechea/index.html.

For a copy of HRF’s full report about the violations of human rights in the case of Yon Goicoechea visit: http://www.humanrightsfoundation.org/reports/GoicoecheaFullReport.pdf.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the American hemisphere. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Armando Valladares, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Thor Halvorssen, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org