Dem seeking to serve as California's next financial watchdog took a 2006 trip to study socialism in Venezuela

A Democrat running for election to serve as California state controller, the state's independent fiscal watchdog, traveled to Venezuela in 2006 to learn about Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution.

Malia Cohen, a Democrat running for the position who has received praise from Democratic leadership, currently serves as a member of the California State Board of Equalization and made the 10-day trip to the socialist country for $1,250.

Cohen's trip to the country was documented in a CNN story about the group's tour, with Cohen claiming that "revolutionary thought" is "generational" as it showed an image of her gazing at a mural featuring a quote from Venezuelan leader Simon Bolivar that roughly translates to: "The health of a Republic depends on the morality acquired by education of citizens in childhood.…"

"The revolutionary thought and mindset are generational," Cohen told the outlet at the time. "What we see in the United States, and you really don't see grandparents and parents and even young as active politically."

Other murals are also featured in the CNN segment, including one that showed hands labeled as different countries pulling apart a swastika and another showing the phrase "Luchando, creando poder popular," — a rallying cry of a Marxist organization in Chile known as the Grupos Accion Popular meaning "fighting, creating popular power."

The trip taken to Venezuela by Cohen and others was allegedly sponsored by a San Francisco-based group called Global Exchange.

A brochure shared on Global Exchange's website for a trip costing $1,250 to Venezuela in September 2006 showcased the socialist revolution in the country positively.

A faded mural of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the 23 de Enero district of Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"Something remarkable is happening in Venezuela," the brochure stated. "The lives of millions of Venezuelans are improving as historic wrongs are being righted. The world's fifth-largest oil producer, Venezuela has long been a country of contrasts: despite its great wealth, 80% of Venezuelans live in poverty. Now, for the first time, millions of Venezuelans have access to education, job training, housing, land, clean water, health care, and something maybe even more precious: dignity."

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