I lived Zohran Mamdani’s socialist dream, and I had to flee my homeland to survive it

I was born and raised in a country where the government built public housing and converted private housing into communes; where the state managed grocery stores, controlled prices and expropriated the wealth of the "rich" in the name of social justice. Weapons were prohibited and "hate speech" — which is, any criticism of power — was punished by law. 

I lived in the dream that a lot of New Yorkers want for their city. And I had to flee to survive.  

Growing up in Venezuela meant being raised among ruins and nostalgia ...