TeleSUR correspondent Belén de los Santos provides details on the recent water supply project developed on the “5 de Marzo” commune in Caracas, Venezuela, which was developed thanks to public consultations and solves a crucial issue for the neighbors. teleSUR
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00:00In Venezuela, 5,334 communes and communal councils prepare for the third national public consultation
00:08while enjoying the positive results from previous instances.
00:11In this context, our correspondent Belén de los Santos visited the Cinco de Marzo commune in Caracas,
00:16where the execution of a water supply project is underway.
00:21In the hills of the El Valle parish, south of Caracas, stands the commune Cinco de Marzo Comandante Eterno.
00:28Due to different reasons, water supply has been a historical problem for the community.
00:33However, participative processes such as the national public consultations have begun to change the situation.
00:42Before, with the water supply problem, daily life here was practically lived bucket by bucket.
00:49I was in charge of the supply for 20 houses, carrying the hose, saying whose turn it was to receive it.
00:55And that's how it was every day when we didn't have water.
01:02We had to wait until 3 a.m. and then the water supply would stop at 6.
01:06If we had to go to work the day we couldn't.
01:08Sometimes we lost a full work day.
01:10It was hard for me.
01:11And now it has been solved a little here in the community.
01:14Thanks to the work carried out as a result of the past consultations,
01:18today 50% of the family homes in the communes have water supply.
01:24However, the brigades do not rest.
01:26In many cases, it is the neighbors themselves who continue the work to guarantee the service throughout the community.
01:35We were the ones who decided on the project.
01:37We also executed it together with Hidrocapital's technical team,
01:41together with the community and the spokespersons of each of the communal councils.
01:45I believe that it's the positive impact, that it generated a bond of trust,
01:49trust that the projects can be carried out in a self-managed manner or in co-governance.
01:54Co-governance may be a better term because it is the government with us, the people,
01:59and in that way we also gave a positive response to the government and to our community.
02:04The spokespersons of the commune describe this process as an integral transformation of the community and its inhabitants,
02:12who feel the satisfaction of being direct architects of the collectively produced change.
02:18I feel happy because I really like what I do, and I like working for my community.
02:26Proud. Proud of myself that I can do it and I was able to.
02:33Proud to say that now my neighbors have a vital liquid.
02:37In this way, participative initiatives such as the public consultations help shape the possibility of a different future.
02:48To have a good life. And a good life means to have a decent house, to have class consciousness,
02:55to have a united family, to really understand what socialism means.
03:02That is what I dream for my commune.