A Venezuelan refugee who fled political persecution is warning that socialist policies pushed by New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani will bring the same hardships to America.

"Young people who right now are trying to support socialist ideas because they think this time would be different — it would not be different," Franklin Camargo, 27, told Fox News Digital. "You don’t want the government to dictate your life. You don’t want the government to stop you from having aspirations, from having desires, from pursuing your own happiness. Trust me, you don’t want that."

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who secured the Democratic Party nomination for New York City mayor in June, ran a campaign focused on making the city more affordable for the average resident. His platform includes freezing rent prices, investing in public housing, city-owned grocery stores, "no-cost" childcare, and higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Mamdani has advocated for more equality in the city, state and across the country, and has argued there should be no billionaires.

But Camargo, who escaped dictator Nicolás Maduro's regime, argues that the problems facing New Yorkers are the result of government intervention and statism, not individualism or capitalism. He maintains that policies championed by Mamdani are "anti-American" and have led to disastrous results in Venezuela, Cuba, the Soviet Union, and North Korea.

NYC BILLIONAIRE LIKENS DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MAMDANI'S CAMPAIGN PROMISES TO THOSE OF CASTRO

Camargo was only a year old when Hugo Chávez rose to power in Venezuela in 1999. His parents and grandparents lived in a prosperous nation, once boasting the fourth-largest GDP per capita in the world. But Camargo grew up watching Venezuela collapse under "aggressive" socialist policies: rent controls, nationalization of industries, censorship, and attacks on the wealthy.

"They made it impossible for the average individual to survive without the government's help," Camargo recalled.

As a child, Camargo visited the U.S. twice on family vacations. Those trips left a lasting impression.

"I remember being amazed by the technology, the cars, how organized this country was," he said. "I was even impressed by the grocery stores — the variety of Oreos, the variety of milks," he recalled.

CITY-RUN GROCERY STORES, DEFUNDING POLICE, SAFE INJECTION SITES: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NYC'S NEXT POTENTIAL MAYOR

Camargo didn’t know anything about politics or economics, but realized different ideas were being applied in the United States, and he wanted to learn more.

In his teens, Camargo immersed himself in the works of economists Milton Friedman, Adam Smith, and U.S. history. He became an outspoken advocate for capitalism, giving speeches and media interviews.

His activism carried heavy costs. While studying medicine, he was expelled and branded a "terrorist" for challenging socialist ideology on campus. His cousin was imprisoned and tortured for his political beliefs. Facing threats to his own life, Camargo fled to the United States in 2019 and now works as a political commentator and presenter for PragerU.

He fears the same failed socialist policies are gaining traction in progressive cities like New York.

"Mamdani is a Venezuelan, a Soviet Union, a Cuban type of socialist," Camargo said. "He’s talking about nationalizing the means of production. Chávez did that in Venezuela in most industries. He’s talking about destroying billionaires. Chávez thought the rich had too much money, and he went after them. And he built an equal society — everyone is equally poor. Over 90% of the population lives in extreme poverty."

MAMDANI'S FAILURE TO WALK BACK THESE POSITIONS COULD CAUSE RECKONING IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 'FIVE-ALARM WARNING'

He is calling on Americans to embrace the ideas and values that make this nation unique.

"America is the greatest nation on earth because of the values that founded this country," he continued. "In 1776, nothing like it existed — the idea that government should exist only to protect individual rights, and that every individual has the right to pursue their own happiness. That doesn’t mean the government is going to make you happy."

"It doesn’t mean that the government is going to give you food or housing… or give you anything you need for free," he added. "Because as the famous quote says, ‘a government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away from you.’"

He warned young Americans who embrace socialist promises that they will come to regret it.

"Every time socialism has been implemented, it doesn’t work," Camargo said. "This time won’t be different."

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

I’m with President Trump: "There’s no deal until there’s a deal."

And now that he has changed his stance and is openly siding with Vladimir Putin, despite vehement objections from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited the White House yesterday, a deal seems rather elusive.

Putin’s interest in peace is underscored by his continued bombardment of Ukraine, the country he illegally invaded, with the latest round killing 10 people. Which is to say the Kremlin dictator has no conceivable interest in peace, except on his maximalist terms.

Look, I’m rooting for Trump. If he can somehow square the circle of this brutal and bloody war, and bring things to an end, he will deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. And Hillary said she’d nominate him.

HERE IS THE 'BIGGEST DIFFERENCE' BETWEEN ZELENSKYY'S TWO WHITE HOUSE VISITS

But the negative reviews of the Alaska sitdown has rankled Trump and prompted him to lash out at Fake News on Truth Social:

"If we had the Summit elsewhere, the Democrat run and controlled media would have said what a terrible thing THAT was. These people are sick!"

Okay, he doesn’t like the press. Except we now know, thanks to his in-flight comments to Fox’s Bret Baier, that he enjoys the sparring, likening it to a golf game. The reporters are all trying to get him to make a mistake. If he makes no breaking news, he wins. If he does say something that’s breaking news, he didn’t put the ball in the hole and they’ve got him. 

I watched Sunday morning as Zelenskyy and top European officials said only Russia can end the war and that Ukraine would not be surrendering the Donbas region, home to more than 200,000 people.  

As Gen. Wesley Clark told me on "Media Buzz," once you get past the Donbas region, it’s a "straight shot" to Kyiv, so the brave Ukrainians, who have held off the far bigger Russian war machine, would be defenseless. 

It’s mildly encouraging that media reports say Putin has accepted the need for security forces to protect Ukraine, meaning the Europeans – and the U.S. – would send troops for a peacekeeping unit.

When special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in the room during the Putin session, was asked about Trump’s change of position, I thought he’d deny it, but he didn’t. That confirms the stories are true, and certainly complicates matters.

TRUMP SPARS WITH EUROPEAN LEADER DURING UKRAINE TALKS OVER KEY STEP TO PEACE

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said over the weekend that Trump "said himself that a ceasefire was his absolute most important and highest priority. So, it was a joint demand, which isn’t happening now. We would have indeed hoped for a cease-fire first. The Russian side was obviously unwilling to do that."

So what exactly is Putin giving up? Nothing, as far as I can see. Every day without a cease-fire is another day that the indicted war criminal gets to cement his battlefield gains.

And, under these circumstances, Trump expects Ukraine’s president to join in a trilateral meeting with him and Putin? 

Responding to Fox’s Peter Doocy, Trump said: "I think if everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that." 

Zelenskyy, who repeatedly praised Trump–he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice after getting kicked out of the White House following his meltdown back in February–reminded reporters that "we live under, each day, attacks. You know, that today have been a lot of attacks and a lot of wounded people. And the child was dead, small one, one year and half.

"So we need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need to support American and European partners that will do our best, for this. So, and I think we show that we are strong people and we supported the idea of the united system of personnel, President Trump to stop this war, to make a diplomatic way of finishing this war. And we are ready for trilateral as presidents."

BACK FROM ALASKA, TRUMP STARTS WEEK WITH CRUCIAL FOREIGN POLICY TALKS OVER UKRAINE WAR

Now that stunned me. He’s willing to sit down with Putin and Trump after insisting on a cease-fire first – which was also the president’s position until he flipped and abandoned it after the sitdown with the indicted war criminal?

So what was the mood afterward?

"I'm optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine," Trump said. He added, "I have a feeling you and President Putin are going to work something out."

Zelenskyy "praised the constructive specific meeting," adding: "There is a lot of people in prison. So we need them back and guarantees which will work for the years. We spoke about it and I showed president a lot of details on the battlefield, on the map." 

But will Putin, who views Zelenskyy as an illegitimate leader, attend?

All the chatter about the red carpet and other atmospherics is meaningless. Yes, Zelenskyy wore a suit, albeit a military-style one.

We should all be rooting for Trump. Even if he falls short, and the war drags on, it can only end with a negotiated settlement.

At one point, Trump broke away from the session and called Putin, rather than waiting till afterwards.

Trump posted that this was "a very good early step," and early may be the operative word. The war could certainly drag on. But it can’t end on the battlefield. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without Trump’s unique preference for leader-to-leader talks, even though he’s now openly siding with Vladimir Putin. Sometimes that produces results and sometimes it doesn’t, as with Kim Jong-un. But it’s given him – and us – a shot.