Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the National Assembly to discuss with the Broad National Commission the proposed constitutional reform. Photo: Presidential Press.
During a meeting with the National Commission for the Constitutional Reform proposal presented on February 15 before the National Assembly, President Nicolás Maduro reflected on the 1999 constituent process, emphasizing the significant differences in the communication and information opportunities available in the 21st century compared to that time.
“Today we have infinite possibilities to inform the people properly, to listen, to discuss, to correctly determine the course that the great majorities of this country want for our history,” he said at the meeting on Wednesday, February 19.
President Maduro highlighted that during the 1999 process, communication was limited, and the Citizen Participation Commission, which he presided over, depended on traditional methods, such as the collection of letters and proposals by a truck that traveled around the country.
“We had to build everything with the tools that we had at the time,” he recounted. “The internet was just starting, there were no e-mails yet, we created a ‘mailbox truck’ that went all over the country and arrived shouting ‘the mailbox, come out with your proposal,’ and people wrote letters—we received thousands of letters.”
President Maduro also reminisced about the Constituent Dialogue program, broadcast live by the Canal Máximo Televisión (CMT), where the articles of the new constitution were discussed through video conferences with various sectors of the country.
“We opened the floodgates. I always repeat, these things must be said a million times,” he emphasized.
The president highlighted that the Citizen Participation Commission received “33,000 proposals for the constitution… And although there were no artificial intelligence digital systems, nothing like that existed, all of them, absolutely all of those proposals were discussed.”
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This effort culminated in “the great work turned out to be the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he said.
“The people gave us six months, by referendum,” he continued, adding that the constituent assembly was installed on August 3, 1998 and delivered the final document in October that year.
“For the first time in history, it was presented to the National Assembly in less than three months so that by the end of October it could be processed, printed and the referendum would be called for its approval,” he explained.
President Maduro highlighted that the method was devised by Commander Chávez during 1994-1997, and perfected between 1997 and 1998 as his principal electoral campaign proposal.
“Those stories have not been written; someone will have to write them,” he remarked, referring to the debates on national sovereignty, democracy and social rights that marked the 1999 process.
He also highlighted the crucial role of President Chávez as a “great conductor, great strategist and great leader who held the reins of the people’s constituent process.”
“The victory of 1999 was the victory of his conduction and leadership,” President Maduro said.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
