Now that Ibarra lives in the United States, his life here has been a “180 degree turn” from what it was in Venezuela. Photo by Julio Avila (Apr. 16, 2015)

By Julio Avila
Staff  Writer

Luigi Pesce Ibarra, a 24-year-old neuroscience graduate student at Stony Brook University, is from Venezuela, a nation ruled under socialism and has economic dependency on petroleum exports.

He lived under the administrations of the late Hugo Chavez and the incumbent Nicolas Maduro and experienced life under the administrations of both leaders.

Currently, Venezuela is in economic turmoil where inflation is over 60 percent and basic necessities and food are hard to come by. Protests resulted because of this and protestors, as well as opposition leaders, are arrested and jailed despite the social and economic problems.

Now that Ibarra lives in the United States, his life here has been a “180 degree turn” from what it was in Venezuela.

Hear more of his story in this audio podcast.