In Venezuela, citizens are electing 15,000 peace judges for the first time on December 15th. Our correspondent, Gladys Quesada, with the details. teleSUR
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00:00In Venezuela, the election of justices of peace is underway in communal districts throughout the nation.
00:06Precisely, Venezuelans are voting for 15,000 justices of peace in a process that highlights the power given by the Bolivarian government to communes
00:15and which constitutes a celebration of the popular consultations that were held nationwide prior to election day.
00:23Since early morning on Sunday, citizens are going to the polls, which were meant to close at 4pm local time,
00:29a closing time that was extended for four additional hours.
00:33Communal justices of peace will be mediators in matters such as family and neighborhood conflicts, among other situations.
00:40In addition, their functions include promoting conciliation, harmony and preventing violence in the communes.
00:47And in this context, we contact our correspondent in Venezuela, Gladys Quezada, to know all the details of this electoral process.
01:00Hi Gladys, how are you and what can you share with us at this hour?
01:04Hi Ale, yes, we have been doing this coverage and giving you the news minute by minute, the updates and every detail regarding this day, this election of the peace justices.
01:22We were saying in other contexts that the closing hours were 4pm, as was stipulated, but as you were saying,
01:29the National Electoral Council said that it was paramount to extend the voting hours until 8pm here in Venezuela,
01:39so all the people who are standing in lines could exercise the right to vote and cast their ballots.
01:46So far in this community, in Iurimare, this is a community in Catealamar, one of the many municipalities of La Guaira,
01:55here in the vicinity of Caracas.
01:58Well, the people are still coming to vote, but so far, the authorities in charge of this voting center have said that they are going to close the doors,
02:08but the people that are outside, they are allowed to come inside and keep voting, but they are going to close because they are complying,
02:16they are also going under the guidelines of the National Electoral Council.
02:21There is to say that this has been a long day where the Venezuelans are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the constitution
02:30that was enacted by the then president and now late commander, Rafael Chavez Frias,
02:37and it's paramount to say that they are celebrating the highest peak of legality and Bolivarian achievements,
02:45and also the paramount, the carta magna that is giving the people these opportunities with other voting,
02:53with other feasts and a rejoyful day of celebrations of democracy.
03:00And also, I have to say, this is a day, and we have to be stressful in this, this is a day for the humble,
03:08this is a day for those who are carrying on the revolution and those who are the people itself.
03:14And I'm saying this because we have been going from one community to the other and it is amazing and it is surprising
03:22the amount of people that is supporting and backing the construction of the communal state,
03:27because this is a strategy, Ale, for the people to enhance the territorial power, the community power, the communal state,
03:36and those are ways that people have not to be under a centralized power in terms of institutions and legislature,
03:45but they can exercise also their ways to enhance power and governance.
03:50That's the way that today has been, you know, bolstered by the people with their vote.
03:57I have to say this is not a binding vote, okay, it is not mandatory.
04:01People are coming here because of their will and also because they want to comply with what was established back in November
04:08in the organic law for the communes and the peace justices that was enacted and proposed by the National Assembly
04:15under Jorge Rodriguez, the president, and Pedro Infante Aparicio, the first vice president of the National Assembly.
04:22I have to say, also, they have been instructed in a period of 25 days.
04:27Pedro Infante was stating that during a press conference, a press briefing, that he, his team, the National Commission for this process
04:36and other instances have been doing this process during 25 days prior to December 15th
04:43in order to inform the people about all the processes, all the details, all the liabilities also of this law and these processes.
04:52And today they counted with the backup of the National Electoral Council in terms of infrastructure,
04:59in terms of organization, in terms of all the ways they have also created, the structure created
05:05for this kind of duties and this kind of processes here in Venezuela.
05:09But I think what is most important is that now they are breaking with old patterns in politics,
05:16they are breaking with old models and they are doing what Hugo Chavez called them to do back in 1999
05:24and that is to find from within the community, from inside the community, how they could, you know,
05:32govern with the people and for the people, not just sitting in a government office,
05:37not just sitting in a big palace or in a big structure.
05:41They have to find ways from the humble, from the community, from the gatherings,
05:45from the voice and the door-to-door policies and people, they have to find these ways and they are doing that.
05:52They are doing so by choosing their own structures and this is one of the activities that concludes the four consultations
06:00prior to this one, where Venezuelans were finding their allocations of resources
06:06and their structures in commons consultations, we were covering that too.
06:10And now this is a day that gives an acme to that activities because today they are finding their own justices,
06:17their own structures and addressing the issues of the communities because they are also realizing
06:23they have issues as communal structures that they have to solve.
06:27So, so far that's the paramount issues, the key issues of the day of today.
06:33We were at Nahuatl here in La Guaira, we were there at other communities and now we are here at Urimare,
06:40which is one of the main urbanizations that was given by President, then President Rafael Chavez FrĂas
06:48and concluded by President Nicolás Maduro Moros.
06:51So they were also giving, you know, households and houses and residential infrastructure
06:57to the people that were lacking of a roof to live in.
07:02So now, or to live under, so now they are living in here in this community
07:06and they are voting today after the confirmation of this municipality and this zone and territory.
07:13So it is like a full circle for them as I was talking to them because they were given this by Hugo Chavez
07:19and they were also given the duty to construct the community and the communal state.
07:24So they are doing that by voting and by choosing their peace justices.
07:29So Ale, this is the paramount information, this is what we have seen today
07:34and we are going to keep informing regarding this.
07:37And I have to stress, this has been a peaceful day.
07:40La Guaira, if you want to Google it or if you want to find it, is, most of all, is a big, big coastal state.
07:49So the beaches, the blue beaches and the sand were full, crowded of people also that came to vote
07:56and afterwards came for a swim.
07:58So this is just a normal Sunday in Venezuela, a peaceful and happy Sunday for Venezuelans also.
08:05So now, Ale, I'm giving the signal back to you.
08:10For all the information, thank you.
08:12And we will keep in touch with you for more details on this paramount event.