JOAQUIN OLIVER is one of the kids that died on San Valentine’s Day at the Parkland, Florida massacre, just a few weeks before his graduation… Joaquin was 17 years old…
His parents, in an extraordinary emotional and courageous gesture have decided that they were going to be the ‘parents of an activist and not of a victim,’ because they themselves are going to fight for passing ‘gun control laws’ and for more transparency and integrity in Congress – in Joaquin’s name — battling next to the survivors of this senseless massacre…
Tragedy strikes us all at one point of our lives… It’s for us to choose how to react to these terrible mishaps… We can become victimized by the event, or we can decide to take control of our lives at these very devastating moments, and seize them as opportunities to advocate and become Activists for CHANGE, to avoid that this same tragedy that afflicts us might strike others…
This is exactly what Joaquin parents – Manuel and Patricia Oliver — are doing, they’re now Activists for Change, for gun control, to stop the proliferation of weapons of war that don’t belong to civilians… Weapons that can murder many people at once, in just fractions of a minute…
On graduation day, June 4, 2018 – at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High — no one thought that Manuel and Patricia Oliver would show up, because it was going to be too sad for them not to see their son graduating with all the other kids, but they did surprise everyone, mainly Patricia Oliver – Joaquin’s mom — who was wearing a yellow shirt that read: “THIS SHOULD BE MY SON…”
Joaquin and his whole family are Venezuelan immigrants… Manuel and Patricia moved to Miami, Fl. almost 15 years ago, practically running away from Chavez’ Revolution that slowly but surely was undermining their nation under a populist/socials system… In which, division, a discourse of hate, as well as social resentment, and class clashes tore the country apart…
The Venezuelan narco-regime, corrupted, and deceitful created terrible conditions to live in, specially for young people, closing the doors to practically any opportunities, and creating a very unsafe environment because insecurity, kidnappings, and impunity was at the order of the day…
Joaquin was very aware of the situation they left behind in his country of birth… He used to wear T-Shirts with slogans that the real “freedom fighters” – the Venezuelan students — of that embattled nation also wear, like: “Who tires, loses” saying that became very popular when one of their main leaders: Leopoldo Lopez, was taken by the regime as a political prisoner; and that was Leopoldo’s way to encourage the people not to despair… Another T-Shirt Joaquin used to wear was: “USA is with VENEZUELA”… Joaquin also marched in rallies on the streets of Miami for a better Venezuela…
Joaquin was an activist then and he’s still one but from another realm, where he can probably see us and guide us and his fellow surviving students in the mission they’ve in front of them: Bring honesty, integrity and mainly CHANGE TO AMERICA, and very particularly to make sure that THE TYRANNY THE NRA HOLDS ON OUR SOCIETY, WILL CHANGE, WILL END, AND BE NO MORE…
This is something that Joaquin Oliver understood since he was very young as he was playing soccer for his school, that in a competition if the Ref was bought by the other team his own would never, ever win…
After Joaquin’s death – his dad Manuel Oliver — grasped perfectly well what his son was teaching him about the Ref: where money has a central and pivotal place, money talks and controls the situation in favor of the highest bidder… Sort of like what’s happening with the NRA and the will of the people regarding ‘gun control…’ All this is explained very clearly by Manuel Oliver in the video bellow…
OUR SOCIETY IS GOING THROUGH A MOMENT OF TRUTH REGARDING GUN VIOLENCE… NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY THE NRA IS PUTTING OUT THERE TO DEFEAT REASON AND COVER THE SUN WITH ONE FINGER, THE REALITY IS ONLY ONE: WE’VE IN AMERICA TOO MANY GUNS AND MAINLY WEAPONS OF WAR – WITH BARELY ANY CONTROLS — ON THE STREETS, ON THE HANDS OF REGULAR CITIZENS, AND WITH EXTREME EASY ACCESS TO THE MENTALLY ILL…
The irony in Joaquin Oliver’s case is that if he’d never have left Venezuela, most probably he’d be fighting for his country of birth next to the many students that had confronted the regime, it’s repressive forces armed to the teeth against which many young people died fighting for Freedom, for Democracy, for life opportunities, and quality of life…
MAYBE JOAQUIN’S DESTINY WAS TO GIVE HIS LIFE AWAY FOR A WORTHY CAUSE, BEING FOR CHANGE IN VENEZUELA, OR FOR CHANGE IN THE USA…
Joaquin was very proud and extremely happy to have become and American Citizen a few months ago, it was one of his dreams, as well as to see CHANGE in Venezuela…
And from wherever you’re Joaquin, your death will not be in vain, because it will serve a great purpose, to see CHANGE IN AMERICA and probably because of that, good CHANGE will also come to the whole world…
One thing is for sure, these Parkland kids have said that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and NEVER AGAIN, and we’ll see them delivering their promises…
They’re just a sample of what we can expect from this generation of brave, super smart, and driven youngsters that will be taking over the nation and promoting CHANGE, becoming the agents of TRANSFORMATION from the core of our society, and mainly from a socio-political point of view…