On May 1, 2017, international worker’s
day, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
opened a new phase in the Bolivarian
revolution in Venezuela, a re-writing of
the Constitution. In order to carry this
out, President Maduro announced the
convocation of a Constituent Assembly.
Over the next few months, the people of
Venezuela will elect and appoint 545
representatives to the Constituent Assembly,
representing many diverse sectors of society,
which will draft changes to the Constitution
of Venezuela. ese changes will then be put
forward as a referendum and subject to a
direct vote by the people of Venezuela.
This announcement by President Maduro
brought immediate outrage from Venezuela’s
violent right-wing, which has proven that
they would rather provoke bloody riots on the
streets of Venezuela, than engage in peaceful
dialogue with the Bolivarian revolution. So
far, Venezuela’s counter-revolutionary rightwing
has vowed to boycott the Constituent
Assembly.
Mainstream media has also spread lies and
distortions about the Constituent Assembly in
Venezuela, claiming that this constitutional
and democratic process is a sign of President
Maduro’s increasing “authoritarianism.”
ese dangerous accusations are more of
so many lies meant to support US and
international intervention and “regime”
change in Venezuela.
At this time of increasing attacks by the US
government and their allies in Venezuela’s
violent and criminal right-wing against
President Maduro and the Bolivarian
revolutionary process, it is important that
we work together to combat the lies and
manipulations about what is happening on
the ground in Venezuela today.
On May 19, 2017, Wilfredo J. Pérez Bianco
the Chief of Mission & First Consul General
of Venezuelan Consulate in Vancouver, gave
a speech which explains the origins, context
and function of National Constituent
Assembly at an event organized by the Hugo
Chavez Peoples Defense Front. Fire is
Time has printed an excerpt of his talk.
Background
The first thinker who gives theoretical
substance to the notion of constituent power
is the French Emmanuel Sieyes, who in 1788
in the framework of the French pre-revolution
postulates that the Nation, understood as a
common will, is the depository of an original
power from which the powers of the State
are constituted, for that reason it’s called
Constituent Power.
In Venezuela we live a historical moment in
which the people take on their leading role,
which reminds us of the maximum Venezuelan
constituent, Juan Germán Roscio (1763-
1821), who was, aside the main propagandist
of the American revolution, inspirer and
editor of the Act of Proclamation of the
Independence (19 of April of 1810), main
editor of the Act of Independence in July of
1811 and of the Constitution of Venezuela of
December of the same year; as well as editor
of the Electoral Regulation for the election of
the First Congress; of the First Constitution,
and president of the Congress of Angostura
of 1819 and vice-president of Gran Colombia
(Great Colombia). We cannot fail to mention
that Roscio was also the first Chancellor of
the Junta of Government of Caracas in the
First Republic, who together with Simón
Bolívar participates in the reconstitution of
the Republic of Venezuela and the creation of
Gran Colombia, seed of the Latin American
and Caribbean integration.
Simón Bolívar on February 15, 1819 installed
in Venezuela the Congress of Angostura, a call
to a National Congress that would promote a
constitutional exit to the situation of political
instability that the country lived, due to the
wars of independence. It was inaugurated
under the principles of the ideology of General
Francisco de Miranda and represented the
second Constituent Congress of the Republic
of Venezuela.
Thus Bolivar in his speech, addressing
the 26 deputies elected by the provinces
of Caracas, Cumana, Trujillo, Margarita,
Guayana, Barinas and Barcelona, called
them to discuss and debate the Basic Law of
the Gran Colombia. The text should include
a political system based on social justice,
regulation of powers and self-determination
of the peoples.
The Liberator proposed the creation
of a Moral Power that would promote
the culture of virtue and watch over
the integrity of officials in charge of
the Executive, Legislative and Judicial
branches. He proposed a republican model
based on democracy, that is, on the election
of officials by popular vote. But the social
aspect was one of the priorities of his
proposal, emphasizing the elimination of
slavery and the promotion of education, as a
basis for the formation of a new citizen with
high moral values.
In summary, in Venezuela, 16 Constituent
processes have been carried out since 1811
until today; 12 Constitutional Reforms, two
amendment processes and a constitutional
reform of 1989-1992 that did not materialize.
Constituent process in the current
Venezuelan political context.
The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela (1999) expresses in its article
No. 5, “sovereignty resides without being
transferable in the people, who exercises it
directly in the manner provided for in this
Constitution and in the law, and indirectly,
by suffrage, through the organs that exercise
the Public Power. The organs of the State
originate from popular sovereignty and are
subject to it. “It is, therefore, the concrete
and direct use that we Venezuelans do of
sovereignty and self-determination to build
the State and the political system that fits
the historical aspirations of the nation at a
particular moment in our history.
This is the powerful idea that the Eternal
Commander Hugo Chávez appealed to in
1998, precisely to channel popular demands
and radically transform the rules of the game
in terms of a National Project different from
that imposed by party and business elites in
1961.
The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela of 1999 established for the first
time in history the possibility of the people
transforming the State through the exercise
of Constituent Power, by giving a wide
enough margin for the future people, as now
in 2017, to decide the forms, mechanisms
and procedures of transformation of the State
through a Constituent Assembly.
Today, the political game is closed, the
political forces that control one of the powers
of the state, such as the National Assembly,
decide to lock the game, kick the table and
cling to violent methods to seize power.
They also despise and discard the path of
the dialogue - supported by many people
in the region and the world, by the Vatican
and by the International Organizations. The
Constitution leaves no other way than that of
a Constituent Assembly to review, transform
and expand the rules of the political system,
which will allow us to unlock the state, deepen
democracy, adapt it to these times of explosion
of People’s Power, and guarantee peace and
lay the foundations for the country’s political,
social and economic stability.
So there is nothing more Bolivarian and
Chavista, radically democratic, than to go
to the people, to their original power, to
Constituent Power to care, preserve and
expand the most sacred possession that we
have conquered: independence and national
sovereignty.
In Venezuela, what is at stake right now is
peace. It is the possibility or not of having
Patria (Homeland). Because there is an
internal force that is betting dangerously to
make of Venezuela a country protected by a
foreign force. That is, sovereignty and selfdetermination
are at stake. Government is not
what is at stake, no.
Chávez granted this marvelous possibility,
and President Nicolás Maduro now claims
it as an essential means of preserving
sovereignty and maintaining peace, given the
grave threats of war that the right has imposed
on the Venezuelan people.
The newly convened National Constituent
Assembly is called to recognize, preserve and
expand the social guarantees that have been
developed in Revolution, the basis of which is
contained in the 1999 Constitution.
In the current political context, it must
recognize and reflect the new forms of
Popular Power that have emerged from the
implementation of the 1999 Constitution.
Social sectors that were rendered invisible
by the State 30 years ago are now central
subjects of the democratic process, and in
good measure have been the main promoters,
protectors and executors of the democratic,
protagonist Social State, based on rights
and justice enshrined in the Bolivarian
constitutional text during these 18 years, to
become the most democratic Constituent of
our history.
Today President Nicolás Maduro is giving
us light in a path that the rightwing has
plagued with shadows. Light is the exercise
of the original power of the people. Light is
the possibility of channeling democratically,
constitutionally and peacefully very deep
contradictions that the current rules of the
game have not been able to resolve, not
because Chavismo wanted, but because the
rightwing has decided to block the country
and subject it to the most serious dangers.
This is the precise historical moment to return
to the source of the original power. May the
people, through the mechanism established
by the Constitution itself, generate the way
to overcome the current political crisis and
create a new framework, with new rules that
deepen democracy, and preserve peace and
national independence.
President Nicolás Maduro calls for
Constituent National Assembly
As part of his attributions as Head of State,
in accordance with Article 347 of the
Constitution, President Nicolas Maduro
Moros, on May 1, 2017, convened the
original Constituent Power so that the people,
in a popular constituent process, convene a
National Constituent Assembly.
“National Constituent Assembly with the
people, with the working class. I call on the
original constituent power of the people, it’s
time, it’s the way, they left no alternatives,
here we have the daughter of Chavez (the
Constitution), here we have the pioneer, [that]
our Commander Chavez wanted to perfect it in
2007 and conditions were not given; I summon
the original constituent power to achieve the
peace that the Republic needs, to defeat the
fascist coup and to make the people, with
their sovereignty, impose peace, harmony and
true national dialogue”, announced President
Maduro next to the working class of the
country during an impressive mass activity to
mark International Workers’ Day.
During the same activity he said: “We call
a citizen constituent, not a constituent of
political parties and elites; a civic constituent
of workers, communes, missions, of peasants,
feminists, youth, students, indigenous
people, but above all of brothers and sisters,
deeply working, decisively working, deeply
communal. “
Legal framework of the Convocation to a
National Constituent Assembly.
Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela Chapter III
Article 347 The people of Venezuela are
the depositary of the original constituent
power. In the exercise of this power, it may
convene a National Constituent Assembly
with the purpose of transforming the State,
creating a new legal order and drafting a new
Constitution.
Article 348 The initiative to convene the
National Constituent Assembly may be
taken by the President of the Republic in the
Council of Ministers; the National Assembly,
by agreement of the two thirds of its
members; the Municipal Councils in session,
by the vote of two thirds of them; or fifteen
percent of the registered voters enrolled in
the Civil and Electoral Registry.
Article 349 The President of the Republic
cannot object to the new Constitution. The
constituted powers may in no way impede
the decisions of the National Constituent
Assembly. Once the new Constitution has
been promulgated, it will be published in the
Official Gazette of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela or in the Gazette of the National
Constituent Assembly.
Presidential Decree No. 2830
This decree made official on May 01, 2017,
through its Extraordinary publication in the
Official Gazette of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela No. 6,295, states:
NICOLAS MADURO MOROS
President of the Republic
In exercise of the power conferred on
me by Article 348 of the Constitution of
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in
accordance with articles 70, 236, numeral
1 and 347 ejusdem, with the blessing
of Almighty God, and inspired by the
grandiose historical inheritance of our
aboriginal ancestors, heroes and heroines
of independence, on whose crest is the
Father of the Homeland, the Libertador
Simón Bolívar, and with the primary
purpose of ensuring the preservation of
the country’s peace in the current social,
political and economic circumstances, in
which severe internal and external threats
of antidemocratic factors and marked antipatriotic
stance hang over its constitutional
order, I consider it a historic duty to call a
CONSTITUENT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY,
based on the popular constituent process,
Legacy of Commander Hugo Chávez, and
the pioneering and foundational Constitution
of 1999, so that our people, as the Original
Constituent Power, express its strong will
and maximum guarantee of the sacred rights
and social achievements won, which during
my mandate I have struggled to sustain and
deepen. Therefore I propose as programmatic
objectives of the National Constituent
Assembly:
1. Peace as a necessity, right and
yearning for the nation, the
constituent process is a great call
for a national dialogue to contain
the escalation of political violence,
through mutual political recognition
and a reorganization of the State, to
restore the constitutional principle
of cooperation between the public
powers, as a guarantee of the full
functioning of the democratic,
social, legal and just State,
overcoming the current climate of
impunity.
2. The improvement of the national
economic system towards
Venezuela Potencia (Venezuela
Power), conceiving the new
model of the post-oil economy,
mixed, productive, diversified,
integrationist, starting with the
creation of new instruments to
stimulate the development of
productive forces, as well as the
establishment of a new transparent
distribution model that fully meets
the population’s supply needs.
3. Give constitutional standing
to the Missions and Major
Socialist Missions, developing
the democratic, social, legal and
juridical State, towards a State of
Highest Social Happiness, in order
to preserve and expand the legacy
of Commander Hugo Chávez, in the
field of full enjoyment and exercise
of social rights for our people.
4. Extending the powers of the Justice
System to eradicate impunity for
crimes, especially those committed
against persons (homicides,
kidnapping, extortion, rape,
gender-based violence and against
children); as well as crimes against
the Homeland and society such as
corruption; smuggling; speculation;
terrorism; drug trafficking; the
promotion of social hatred and
foreign interference.
5. Constitutionalisation of the
new forms of participatory and
protagonist democracy, based on
the recognition of the new subjects
of the People’s Power, such as
Comunas and Communal Councils,
Workers’ Councils, among other
forms of territorial and social
organization of the population.
6. The defense of the sovereignty and
integrity of the nation and protection
against foreign interventionism,
expanding the powers of the
democratic, social, legal and
juridical State for the preservation
of citizen security, the guarantee
of the integral exercise of human
rights, defense of independence,
peace, immunity, and political,
economic and territorial sovereignty
of Venezuela. As well as promoting
the consolidation of a multipolar
and multi-center world that
guarantees respect for international
law and security.
7. Claiming the multicultural
character of the country, through
the constitutional
development of spiritual
values that allow us
to recognize ourselves
as Venezuelans, in our
ethnic and cultural
diversity as a guarantee
of peaceful coexistence
in the present and
towards the future,
immunizing ourselves
against social and
racial hate nurtured in
a minority groups of
society.
8. The guarantee
of the future, our youth,
through the inclusion of
a constitutional chapter
to set apart the rights of
youth, such as the free and conscious use of information technologies; the right
to decent work and opening of their
creativity, the protection of young
mothers; access to a first home; and
recognition of the diversity of their
taste, styles and thoughts, among
others.
9. The preservation of life on the
planet, constitutionally developing
with greater specificity, the
sovereign rights over the protection
of our biodiversity and the
development of an ecological
culture in our society.
I invoke the Original Constituent Power, so
that with its deep patriotic spirit, may bring
together a National Constituent Assembly
that will be a participatory and protagonist
tribune of all of our society, where the voice
of the most diverse social sectors is expressed.
A National Constituent Assembly, which
conforms to the geopolitical structure of the
Federal and Decentralized State, based on
the primary political unity of the territorial
organization that our Constitution enshrines.
It is the duty of the National Constituent
Assembly to guarantee the Social State of
Law and Justice, as well as to channel the
popular outcry of those who today demand
that their rights, gains and achievements enjoy
the constitutional rank, to which level they
undoubtedly deserve to be elevated; and so
perfecting the model of humanistic, political,
juridical and economic development that is
contained and enshrined in our Magna Carta.
For all these historical reasons and with the
most sacred moral and loving commitment
that I keep to the Venezuelan people, I take
the constitutional and exclusive initiative to
convene, in Council of Ministers:
DECREE
Article 1 In the exercise of the powers
conferred on me by the Constitution of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Articles
348, 347, 70, and 236 numeral 1 ejusdem
I CALL A NATIONAL CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY, a citizen and of deep popular
participation, so that our People, as depositary
of the Original Constituent Power, with
its supreme voice, can decide the future of
the country, reaffirming the principles of
independence, sovereignty, equality, peace,
participatory and protagonist democracy,
multiethnic and pluricultural democracy.
Article 2 The members of the National
Constituent Assembly shall be elected at
the sectoral and territorial levels, under the
guidance of the National Electoral Council,
by universal, direct and secret vote; with the
highest interest of preserving and deepening
the constitutional values of freedom, equality,
justice and immunity of the Republic and selfdetermination
of the people.
Given in Caracas, on the first day of May,
two thousand and seventeen. Years 207 ° of
Independence, 158 ° of the Federation and 18
° of the Bolivarian Revolution.
To be carried,
Comrades, I have just read the true, authentic
spirit of the National Constituent Assembly. I
have read verbatim the content of Presidential
Decree No. 2830, with the purpose of reducing
to zero the speculations, manipulations,
misrepresentations, and poor interpretations
of the Convocation made by President
Nicolás Maduro,
and which
today enjoys a
wide support
in the most
diverse sectors
of Venezuelan
society, as will
be demonstrated
surely, with
the voters
participation
during the
election of its
members by
universal, secret
and direct vote.
Concluding
The Constituent Power. The first thinker
who gives theoretical substance to the notion
of constituent power is the French Emmanuel
Sieyes, who in 1788 in the framework of the
French pre-revolution postulates that the
Nation, understood as a common will, is the
depository of an original power from which
the powers of the State are constituted, for
that reason it was called Constituent Power.
The National Constituent Assembly. It is
the juridical space where the representatives
chosen by the constituent power, are to
agree on the social coexistence and the legal
regulation that governs it, the Constitution.
Is there a recognition in the Constitution
of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela?
Our Bolivarian Constitution, resulting from
a constituent process led by Commander
Hugo Chavez, recognizes in its article 347
that there is an original power.
Its functions. To transform the State,
create a new legal system and draft a new
Constitution.
Why is it called at this time? To promote
a great national dialogue that will stop the
escalation of violence promoted by the
opposition leadership; that will preserve the
independence and the peace of the Republic;
and will leave the constitutional base of
a social model, where we can all live with
mutual recognition, equality, justice, peace
and dignity.
Thank you very much!
* Wilfredo Peréz Bianco is the Consul General
of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in
Vancouver, Canada.
Follow the Venezuelan Consulate in
Vancouver on Twitter: @ConsuladoVenVan
Back to Article Listing
