Student speaks out on Venezuelan voting rights


An FIU student spoke out about voting rights in Venezuela at the One Young World Summit held in Bangkok, Thailand, last month.

Mario Di Giovanni ‘13, now a graduate student studying global affairs, sat alongside international political leaders, like former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga and Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib Fakim, in a panel addressing corruption at the highest levels of government and business.

At the summit, Di Giovanni represented Venezuela, his birthplace, where he was involved in student government at the Universidad Metropolitana. Escaping threats made against activists in Venezuela, he moved to the United States five years ago to study at FIU.

He spoke about the Miami-based nongovernmental organization he co-founded called VotoDondeSea (which means “Vote Wherever” in Spanish), which facilitates and promotes voting rights for Venezuelans while abroad.

Di Giovanni at the 2015 One Young World Summit

Di Giovanni at the 2015 One Young World Summit

“What began as a small movement in Miami soon became an international movement with young activists who shared the same idea,” Di Giovanni said during his speech at the summit. “Being away should not mean that you can not decide the future of your own nation.”

But the Venezuelan government closed the embassy in Miami during the 2012 and 2013 elections, forcing Venezuelans in Miami to travel to the next-closest embassy in New Orleans. So VotoDondeSea took on the task of raising money to fund trips to Louisiana to vote, ensuring that more than 5,000 Venezuelans were able to cast their ballot in these elections.

“Why was it so important to fight for our right to vote?” Di Giovanni asked the crowd at the summit. “Because if we don’t vote, there is no accountability.”

At FIU, Di Giovanni remains an activist as a member of the Venezuelan Student Alliance, which motivated him to follow in a friend’s footsteps and apply to speak at the One Young World Summit.

“Through this conference I realized how different we all are, but yet we’re so similar,” Di Giovanni said. “Especially in the challenges we face.”

“It makes you understand that the whole global community should work together.”