*Over 36,000 projects have been put forward
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00:00This Sunday, Venezuelans vote in the first National Public Consultation of 2025 where
00:04Venezuelans choose the projects on which the public budget will be used, giving more voice
00:09to the people's power.
00:10Let's go live with our correspondent Belén de los Santos in Caracas for all the details.
00:14Hello Belón, welcome to From the South.
00:17Hello Luis, exactly.
00:21So, as you were saying, an important day for democracy in Venezuela, in this project of
00:31a participative and protagonist democracy that the Bolivarian revolution is carrying
00:36along.
00:37So, as you were saying, this is the first public consultation that is being underway
00:42here in the whole Venezuelan territory.
00:45And this is a particular kind of election because Venezuelans, as you were saying, are
00:50heading to the polls, specifically in over 5,000 communes and communal circuits.
00:56But today, they are not choosing representatives, they are not choosing authorities, they are
01:01actually choosing which projects, which communal projects are going to be financed, prioritized
01:09in the coming months, which will be receiving the necessary funds to be carried along.
01:14So this is a project, these public consultations have been a tool of participative democracy
01:20in the sense that the people are able not only to decide on their fate through the election
01:26of representatives, but also to directly decide on their needs.
01:31So the process has been underway with assemblies, for example, in every commune or communal
01:37circuit in which the neighbors have come together to discuss the different issues, the main
01:43issues that affect each community.
01:45And they are deciding, okay, with this funding, what are we going to do?
01:49So they are bringing to the table, through a process of assemblies, different communal
01:53projects.
01:54And today, all the neighbors from this communes and communal circuits, you can see them right
02:01behind me, they are coming to vote, and they are actually voting on those projects.
02:07So we are here, in particular, in the Giant of the Homeland building that is part of the
02:14communal circuit number two in Caracas.
02:17We are right in front of the Fine Arts Museum and the Fine Arts Square, a very important
02:23place of Caracas Center.
02:25And in this circuit, we were just talking to some of the leaders.
02:30And for example, one of the main projects that will be voted on is the continuation
02:37of a project of recovery for the buildings and communal spaces in this community.
02:45So the leaders were just, the neighbors were just telling us that this communal circuit
02:50in particular, for example, is, of course, in downtown Caracas.
02:55So it's mainly composed of different buildings, large buildings that are, in some cases, decades
03:02old.
03:03And so they need a lot of maintenance.
03:05And that maintenance, because it's not just simple housing, it's expensive.
03:10So they are deciding to allocate these resources to the recovery of these spaces.
03:16That is one of the things that they are voting on today.
03:20And also, just so you know, this is not a project that is beginning right now.
03:26But actually, this is the third public consultation since 2024.
03:32And this particular communal circuit already voted on a similar project.
03:37And already nine buildings have been recovered with the infrastructure repairments in the
03:44last consultations, with the execution of the last budget.
03:50So what they are voting on right now is the possibility to continue that project, because
03:56of course there are still a lot of things to get done.
03:59So they are very just eager to see if this funding will be allocated to that.
04:06And also, that is just one of the projects.
04:08There are also some projects to recover a square that is just here, a few blocks away.
04:15And also, some of the neighbors were proposing the budget go to external lighting.
04:19So as you can see, these are different projects that the community is voting on.
04:25They have proposed them themselves, just thinking about what is their priority.
04:30And today, those same neighbors from this communal circuit are deciding which projects
04:36will be a priority for the coming months.
04:38And of course, the goal is that all these projects will be targeted in due time.
04:46You've been there since very early.
04:48I know you had a chance to talk with people.
04:50What is the feeling of the people?
04:52Do they feel like their voice has an impact on the projects that they are voting for?
05:04Exactly.
05:05Not only we've been here from very early, but we've been also just going through different
05:10territories and communes throughout the week.
05:13We've been seeing the footage and the different from the south emissions.
05:17And really, there's one common experience, both in communes, in communal circuits, both
05:24in Caracas and also in rural areas, and that is that the neighbors feel heard.
05:30This is just a practice that is very unusual in different countries.
05:37The possibility that they can go and vote directly on the projects that they have decided.
05:43So one of the phrases that they have been repeating, of course, is that no one really
05:48knows better than them what the problems are, what things need to be targeted, and what
05:54is the best solution also to bring to the table.
05:58And that is what this tool is trying to achieve.
06:02The idea that, of course, this is coordinated through state entities, it's an initiative
06:08of the national government, but the initiative is focusing on the idea that it's the neighbors
06:14from these communal circuits in particular that know what they need, and this is the
06:20way of allocating the funding in an efficient way.