April 24, 2008 9:26AM 

# Yon Goicoechea Named Recipient of the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty 

By Cato Editors 

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Yon Goicoechea, leader of the pro-democracy student movement in Venezuela, [has been awarded the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty](https://www.cato.org/special/friedman/goicoechea/index.html). Under Goicoechea’s leadership, the student movement organized mass opposition to the erosion of human and civil rights in Venezuela and played the key role in defeating Hugo Chávez’s bid for a constitutional reform that would have turned the country into a dictatorship. Goicoechea’s vision of optimism, tolerance, and modernity has breathed new life into efforts to defend basic freedoms in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America where freedom is threatened.

**[Full Details](https://www.cato.org/special/friedman/goicoechea/index.html)**

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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