Venezuela to hold 1st referendum on the Essequibo in 130 years
From Caracas, Venezuela, our correspondent Gladys Quesada brings us details on the referendum on the Essequibo to be held on December 3 in that country. teleSUR
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00:00 Venezuela is on its way to develop its seventh consultative referendum and 30th electoral
00:05 event in 25 years, that is, since the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez.
00:10 Let's take a look at the details.
00:14 Organizations of the Venezuelan society gathered at the headquarters of the National Electoral
00:18 Council to give their support to the referendum for the Ezequiel.
00:23 They make up unions, political parties and groups of different affiliations such as these
00:30 brokers and these public officials who share songs about the Ezequiel.
00:48 We are being consulted, as every organized community is, from business people, government
00:53 and opposition parties to artists, movements and people's power, to decide on the actions
00:58 that will resolve our most important border issue, our Guyana Ezequiel.
01:03 The activists refer to a legal mechanism that, despite its constitutionality, was protested
01:10 by Guyana before the Court of Justice of The Hague to prevent its realization.
01:17 For more than 130 years, during which Venezuelan men and women have been persistently and perseverantly
01:26 fighting for our territory of the Guyana Ezequiel, there has never ever been a national consultation
01:32 for the popular vote to decide the vital issues of the struggle for the recovery of the Guyana
01:39 Ezequiel.
01:42 Venezuelan spokespersons agree with the Consultative Republic of Guyana on criticizing the referendum
01:48 under the argument that sovereignty is not consulted.
01:53 This is a stance confronted by other opponents who, putting aside their differences with
01:58 the government, will take part in the referendum.
02:02 And why would somebody be so much bothered with asking Venezuelans if they agree or not
02:06 to defend their territory?
02:07 Why would somebody be so much bothered by that?
02:09 I'm always suspicious of those who say that the consultation is no good.
02:12 I always find it suspicious, because they are the same ones who called for abstention.
02:17 We need to understand that there is a difference between the government and the state.
02:21 The interest in the Ezequiel is not of one government, it is the republic's.
02:24 The republic is defended by the state, and the state is led by whoever has the leadership,
02:29 in this case the presidency of the republic.
02:31 This referendum will be the seventh since 1999, when the first one was convened for
02:37 the call to a constituted assembly.
02:39 It was followed by the referendum for the approval of the 1999 constitution, then a
02:46 union referendum in the 2000.
02:49 In 2004, the opposition called for a recall referendum against the president Chavez.
02:56 In 2007, the referendum to reform the constitution, and in 2009, the referendum to approve the
03:03 constitutional amendment.
03:07 We are in the time of the Bolivarian revolution of Venezuela, and the Bolivarian revolution
03:12 has a mechanism for consulting the people, which is the participative, protagonist and
03:17 decisive democracy.
03:18 That is why we have had more than 29 electoral processes and more than seven consultative
03:23 processes.
03:24 One of the political rights expressly included in the constitution are referendums as a form
03:33 of participation, and one of them, provided for in an article 71, is precisely the consultative
03:39 referendum.
03:40 The consultative referendum, which is a figure that allows the nation to make fundamental
03:45 decisions, is born from the concept of sovereignty.
03:49 That is to say, that the power resides in the people.
03:54 With this process, there will be 30 elections in which the Venezuelan people have taken
03:59 part in the last 25 years.
04:02 Venezuela seeks to ratify the current popular will on a centennial issue.
04:07 Gladys Quezada, Telezor, Caracas, Venezuela.