How to Survive in a Prison in Venezuela

How stoicism changed my life

“shallow focus photography of man wearing helmet and gas mask” by Andrés Gerlotti on Unsplash

I’m Venezuelan, I’m part of the diaspora that my country is living. We are already almost 3 million Venezuelans abroad. And I’m not the exception.

I had to emigrate like many Venezuelans. I had to emigrate to look for a better future. I had to emigrate because my security in the country was in danger.

As many,

A year ago I believed in a change for the country.

Every morning I would get up and go out to demand my rights.

Rights that later brought me consequences

I was a student who woke up every morning to demand my rights.

I was another student victim of the atrocities of a corrupt government.

If you write my name in google you will notice that I appear on the cover of the most popular newspaper in my country.

Liberaron a Daniel González, estudiante de la Unimet detenido el 9 de junio

however,

I won’t stop to explain what happened.

I’m only going to explain how, thanks to Stoicism, I was able to leave without problems.

I’ll teach you the 4 things that I learned while I was deprived of freedom.

We Always Have to Prepare for the Worst

When the protests started, I always felt that something bad could happen to me.

Every day I thought something tragic could happen to me.

I still remember seeing this video of Tim Ferriss several times. A video where Tim teaches us to prepare for the worst.

After watching the video, I asked myself: What is the worst that can happen if I continue in the protests?

Half an hour later, I had classified my answers in order of importance.

the list was the following:

1. Die: One of my classmates, Juan Pernalete, killed by a tear gas bomb that hit him in the chest. So it was a possibility that also happened to me.
2. Fracture: I have a friend who was shot in the chest, another had a broken elbow. Another with a broken leg. Fracturing was also a possibility.
3. Being in prison: I have several friends who have already been.
4. Suffocate me by gas: This happens to me every day. So that was my least concern. 😆😆😆😆

For each of the things on the list, I already had a ready answer.

Dying in protest didn’t bother me. He would die like the ancient Greeks on the battlefield. I would have an honorable death. I would die fighting for my ideals.

In addition, I never stopped repeating the Stoic phrase: “memento mori”.

Remember you can die.

About the fractures and injuries in my body, I concluded that it didn’t matter.

It’s always good to receive blows to the body from time to time.

For that, I repeated an extract from Marco Aurelio that would solve everything: that my body complains, that my muscles cry, that they complain.

That was the mantra I would say every time I felt pain in my body.

Also, it wouldn’t be the first one that would have an injury, so there’s no problem.

Finally, there was the possibility of being imprisoned. That was a concern for me.

I was worried about being with prisoners. I was worried about being in isolation and being tortured by the police forces.

In that situation, the only thing I could do was prepare myself for the worst.

I decided to read all kinds of books from people who were in prison.

In just one month I read

• Victor Frankl
• James Stockdale
• Mandela
• Malcolm x

After reading each of these characters you realize that going to a prison isn’t so serious.

If Victor Frankl survived a concentration camp in Auschwitz for two years, why not me?

If Mandela spent 30 years in a prison and still became one of the most important characters in history, why not me?

If Malcolm X spent his time in prison reading books and improving as a person, why not me?

If James Stockdale survived being imprisoned in Vietnam thanks to the lessons of Epictetus, why not me?

I still remember being mounted in the police car that would take me to my cell and repeat the same phrase that James Stockdale repeated at the time: “I have left the kingdom of the Lord to meet the kingdom of Epictetus”

Even in the worst circumstances there are moments where you can laugh.

There is a phrase of Victor Frankl that I’ll never forget. the phrase is so important that I copy it from his book.

I suggested that we should make the solemn promise that each day we would invent a funny story about an incident that might happen the day after our release.

I still remember having a similar promise.

I still remember my promise that at the end of each day I would try to remember the funniest thing that happened to me during the day.

Among those things are:

1. See the guards play with my belongings. My shields, masks and gloves for protests.
2. Share a cell with a drug dealer who had more than 15 kilos of crack. The seller was a foreigner and the funny thing was to see how he pretended not to speak Spanish. The police insulted him and insulted him, but he still spoke English. However, by the time the guards left, he spoke in Spanish with us.
3. See how the guards fell in love with my lawyer. I remember the guards asking me if my lawyer had a boyfriend or was married.

There is always someone who suffers more than you

At this point I’m not talking about historical examples.

Of course there are cases of people who suffered more than us. For example, anyone who was in World War II suffered more than us.

With this point I mean that there are always people close to you who have gone through similar situations.

For example,

While I was deprived of freedom, I remembered the Venezuelans who went through situations similar to mine.

I remembered the cases of people who lived 5 years in the same place as me.

I remembered friends who were detained for 2 months like me. I remembered my friends who were tortured.

And above all, I remembered each one of the cases of violation of human rights.

And remembering each of those things concluded that I really wasn’t suffering. I was comfortable where I was.

I felt that at no time did I have a real danger. I felt that what I was living was nothing compared to the others.

The adaptive capacity of the human being

I still remember a Seneca phrase that says:

“Set aside several days where you will be satisfied with the minimum and simplest sustenance, a single dish and rough clothes, while you say:” Is this what you feared so much? “

And this phrase is very true.

You’ll be surprised at the adaptability of the human being. You’ll be surprised how you can survive with little food. You’ll be surprised how you can be in small spaces.

You’ll discover how the human is adapting to each of the challenges that life places on him.

Conclusion

With this text I’m not saying that I’m a survivor, nor that I’m a terrorist or anything like that.

At no time did I lead people in Venezuela.

I’m just another student who went through these circumstances.

With this text I don’t say that I’m a hero either. There are many people who suffered more than me. They are the ones who deserve the credit, not me.

With this text I don’t say that I feel sorry for them. There are many people in my country who are still paying the consequences of this government anarchy.

I don’t even ask you to use this example text. As I say, honestly there are many people in worse conditions than me.

The reason why I write this text is to teach you how you can take advantage of a philosophy of more than 2000 years to get out of a tragic situation unharmed.

The purpose of this text is only for educating people.

Nothing else.

I hope you have served the text, and as I always say: You are free to write in the comments what you want.

If you want, you can write to me that I’m a fraud.

That I’m a child who only seeks popularity

That I’m a liar.

Anything, just write.