By Elias Jaua
I write this article, the last one of this year 2018, 16 days before the beginning of the new year 2019. Year where perfect cycles of our historical birth as a nation are commemorated:
1819: On February 15 of that year, our Liberator SimĂłn BolĂvar delivered his memorable speech before the Angostura Congress and laid the foundations of our own republicanism, that of “social equality established and practiced”; On the 2nd of April, the battle of the Queseras del Medio is fought, under the cry “Vuelvan Caras”, demonstration that a handful of free men and women are capable of defeating the most powerful empires; August 7: Battle of Boyacá, where Venezuelans conquer the independence of Nueva Granada, today Colombia. Marking there, the beginning of the epic independence of all South America that starred the Venezuelan people, our greatest historical legacy.
1989: The popular rebellion of February 27, the outbreak of a people against inequality, social and cultural exclusion, gross corruption and the application of a neoliberal economic model that ended by opening, in a painful way, the historical social fracture that we have as a people. There is no defeated people!
1999: On February 2, the people arrives in Miraflores under the leadership of Comandante Hugo Chávez and begins the opening of one of the periods of greatest popular protagonism in Venezuelan politics, from the activation of the popular constituent process; December 15: After an intense debate within the National Constituent Assembly and with the most diverse sectors throughout the country, the new constitutional text is submitted to a popular referendum, and this is approved by a large majority of the people. The V Republic is born, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, whose philosophical bases are more valid today than ever.
200 years of Angostura, of Queseras del Medio and Boyacá; 30 years of the popular rebellion against neoliberalism and 20 years of the arrival of the Bolivarian Revolution in the Government and the approval of our Bolivarian Constitution of 1999. That is the historical framework in which we will have to overcome the challenges imposed by the coming year, 2019. We must live up to the historical trend of the struggle for independence, freedom, justice and social equality that we have achieved as a people.
In 2019 we must conjure up the catastrophe with which they threaten us, and turn it into a year of rupture in favor of political and diplomatic stability that allows us to recover and expand from a sovereign perspective our model of social, cultural and economic inclusion.
In 2019, it is necessary to keep the victorious road of the Bolivarian Revolution open, that is not to lower our historical flags of struggle; for not doubting our model, for recognizing our achievements and our mistakes; for combating ethical and ideological deviations; for giving up any interest other than the interests of our heroic people; to preserve our economic and oil sovereignty in any circumstance; in listening to the people, always listening to the people and rectifying where we have to rectify.
In 2019, to preserve national independence requires calling for the broadest and diverse sectors to build a great patriotic alliance, beyond the political differences that allow us to dismantle the scaffolding of diplomatic, financial, commercial aggression and conjure any military adventure against our homeland, Venezuela. Indispensable is also to dismantle the mafias that weaken the State and its ability to exercise authority, especially in the economic sphere.
2019, it must be the year in which we achieve the reunification of the Venezuelan family here in their homeland; the year in which we summon the thousands of Venezuelans, who are here or abroad, who have high levels of education, training and experience to join, with new ideas, with their contributions, to the reconstruction of our economy and of the tissues of political and social coexistence that we need to live in peace. Come back, compatriots, we need you.
In 2019, it is necessary to maintain the unity of the patriots, and that responsibility falls primarily to the political leadership of the country. The tactical and strategic decisions taken in 2019 must aim to reunify and add wills in order to preserve national independence and the peaceful and electoral democratic path of revolutionary transformations and rectifications claimed by our people.
In this sense, it is necessary to assess in its proper dimension the weight of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of 1999. 19 years after its popular approval, it has become the epicenter of national unity. That is why, in any case, we must jealously guard the ethical, political, economic, social and cultural bases that cross it throughout all its articles. Let’s not make the mistakes of the recent past.
Year 2019, as a people we have to organize ourselves to fight for our independence and dignity, as a people we will respect our rights against the attempts of the elites of any sign whatsoever, as a people we will defend the democratic power that belongs to us.
In 2019, God willing, our conscience willing, Venezuela will emerge independent, dignified and prosperous. So shall. A Christian Christmas and New Year’s “Abrazo”, compatriots.
Source URL: Correo del Orinoco
Translated by JRE
Elias Jaua Milano
ElĂas JosĂ© Jaua Milano is a Venezuelan politician and former university professor who served as Vice President of Venezuela from January 2010 to October 2012.He was Minister of Foreign Affairs since January 2013. Jaua obtained a Sociology degree from the Central University of Venezuela. In 2000 he was part of the ComisiĂłn Legislativa Nacional and Minister of the SecretarĂa de la Presidencia from 2000 to 2001.
He was nominated as Venezuelan Ambassador to Argentina in 2002. Jaua served as Minister of Agriculture in President Hugo Chávez's government before being appointed as Vice-President in January 2010, while remaining Minister of Agriculture. On 15 December 2011, following a major reshuffle of the Venezuelan political leadership, President Chávez proposed Jaua to be the PSUV candidate for governor of the state of Miranda (reported in El Universal).
He resigned the vice presidency on 13 October 2012 to compete in the election and was replaced by Nicolás Maduro. He lost the election on 16 December 2012 to the former governor Henrique Capriles who had stepped down in June 2012 to unsuccessfully challenge Hugo Chávez for President. Jaua succeeded Nicolás Maduro as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 15 January 2013.
