*Citizens to choose from a total of 27,420 submitted projects
*Voting ends at 6:00 pm provided there are no voters
*Voting ends at 6:00 pm provided there are no voters
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome back.
00:07We will take the topic of Venezuela.
00:09We go live with our correspondent in Caracas, Gladys Quezada, for more information as voting
00:13proceeds.
00:14Hello, Gladys.
00:15Welcome to From the South.
00:17What can you tell us in this early morning?
00:19Hello, Luis.
00:20Precisely, I'm at the Sarria Parish here in Caracas.
00:24This is one of the very populated, very crowded zones, and also a popular zone.
00:31So people here are organized in different communal centers, which is the one that groups
00:39communes, and they have eight commune centers here in this parish.
00:44So far, they are just setting up the details.
00:48They're arranging the banners to inform the population with all the projects that they
00:53are going to discuss and vote today.
00:56And they are also organizing the ballots, the little piece of papers when they are going
01:02to put the projects they are voting for.
01:05Also, the officials of the Council of the Communes, which are elected by the communes
01:13members, and the CNE, the National Electoral Council officials, they are also preparing
01:20and assisting this election, this process of choosing the projects that are going to
01:25be voted for.
01:26Also, they inform me about the projects they have here, and they are discussing the possible
01:34financing of the roof repair and the house and the infrastructure repair in one of the
01:43parts of the parish.
01:46In other occasion, in the first consultation of this kind back in April, on April 21st,
01:52they discussed this, and they voted for the roofs and the houses.
01:56And that occasion, they started, and today they are proposing to continue with that project.
02:02A second one was the recovery of the codes for people to go and do sports, because the
02:09codes have been deteriorated because of the climate, and maybe the lack of requirements,
02:15and the lack of, you know, activities there.
02:18So they want to recover to take back those spaces for leisure activities, for sporting
02:24activities, and so far they are trying to finance the repair of the codes.
02:31And they also are going to vote for the rehabilitation of 187 houses and two residential buildings.
02:39So they are trying to put the money there to benefit families who live in there.
02:46And last but not least, they have this project of repairing the sidewalks and the seaways
02:53places, but in this occasion, that common center retired from the voting because they
03:01said that they put the project late, and they were out of the due date, the due moment
03:09for the postulation of the project, so they are going to present that in further occasions.
03:15I have to say, the first consultation was on April 21st this year, and the president,
03:20Nicolás Maduro Moro, he changed the lapse between consultations.
03:26So first, there was an estimated of six months between consultations, and now it is three
03:33months between one consultation and the other, so that guarantees that the people have the
03:39power to choose new projects to receive the financing.
03:44And one of the many questions that people have regarding this, people who are not Venezuelan,
03:49people from Iranians, that is international, that from where is the financing coming from
03:56this kind of project?
03:57And I have to say, the president and the authorities have been emphatic, because they have been
04:03explaining that this kind of financing comes from the taxes.
04:07They are collecting taxes from private businesses, from maybe enterprises that have been in motion,
04:15and from that, again, they are financing the projects for the people, from those who have
04:22maybe less opportunities to find the money to repair their courts, repair their houses,
04:30to benefit their communities.
04:32And in this occasion, they are just putting the money for the will of the people, and
04:38when the people need the money, or where the people need the money.
04:41Also, I wanted to tell you, this is one of the urban or the city commons and common center,
04:50there are some communal centers or councils that are rural, okay?
04:55Because they are located in the countryside of the places, the country, and out of the
05:03cities.
05:04They are mixed communal councils, because they have parts and parts, you know, they
05:09have this urban infrastructure, but they are located in rural places.
05:14And they also have the indigenous councils, because the indigenous, they are included
05:19in this new consultation, in this second consultation.
05:24And this is new, but also falls in line with the policies of the common law here in Caracas
05:30and in all Venezuela, because when Rafael Chavez FrĂas, the commander of the revolution,
05:37he conformed the constitution that was approved in 1999, the common law was the first of all
05:44to be approved.
05:45He was saying that comuna or nada, which is to say, common or nothing, because the common
05:52is the self of the socialist society, the socialist system, and the communist system
05:57that Venezuela intends to build.
05:59So this law is regulating, you know, the financing, the confirmation of the common, the possible
06:07functions of a common, because it's not only people who live together, it's people that
06:12are integrating their skills, their abilities, their will to maybe produce something or maybe
06:20to provide a service to the population.
06:23I have visited in other locations in the first consultation, I visited a commune in Antimano
06:30that provided the uniforms, the school children uniforms for the kids in the commune, and
06:37they did that free of cost.
06:39They did that pro bono because they had the financing of all the productions of clothes
06:45that they were doing all the year, and that's the way that people are sustaining themselves.
06:51Other question that people have maybe is that why to do this if the government has to do
06:58this anyway?
06:59Well, first of all, the government, the entity called state, is larger than any singular
07:06commune.
07:07So maybe it's not aware, you know, the authorities, the top authorities are not aware of what
07:13is happening in the communes, in the neighborhoods, in the streets, and this is a way that a new
07:20approach in democracy is not vertical power, it's horizontal power, okay?
07:26People are just choosing what they need and communicating that to the government through
07:30this voting.
07:31Also, this is a way that ensures the self-sustainability of the neighborhoods and the communes, because
07:38that's to say, Venezuela is enduring a blockade and 930 sanctions for more than nine years,
07:46and that means the economy is hurting, that means the resources are hurting, and in this
07:51case, also, this is a way that people have to overcome and to endure and to sustain themselves
07:57aside from the blockade and despite this 930 sanctions.
08:03So yes, the day is just starting, and the people are just approaching to choose their
08:08projects.
08:09They are coming in here with coffee for the neighborhoods, because this is a community
08:14activity, so people are coming with their families, the children, they are coming with
08:20the elderly, they are accompanying the elderly that have no family to come in here with.
08:25So this is a collective and constructive activity here, Luis, and we will be reporting
08:31this alongside the whole broadcasting day, so I invite our audience to stay with us and
08:37to stay with you and tell us.
08:38So now back to you, Luis.
08:40Thank you, Clarice.
08:41We'll do that.
08:42We'll stay in touch to have more updates in the upcoming news brief.