The National Popular Consultation, through which Venezuelan communes select their priority projects, has been scheduled for October 18.
On Monday, September 7, the general secretary of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, said that PSUV members are constantly holding events and assemblies with the aim of participating in the consultation.
“The number of meetings that have been held is impressive,” he said at the party’s press conference on Monday. “There have been state meetings, municipal meetings, commune meetings, and then the launch of the whole system … All of Venezuela is mobilized through meetings and continuous assemblies.”
He emphasized that the Popular Power is debating all issues, “no matter how contentious they may be.”
The consultation was originally scheduled for July 12, but was postponed at the request of the communes following the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24. It was subsequently rescheduled for October 11 before the authorities moved it one week later, to October 18.
Resources initially allocated to the July consultation were redirected to assist affected families and support the reconstruction of homes damaged by the earthquakes. The new consultation will allow communal councils, communes, communal circuits, and condominium boards—the latter participating for the first time—to select the projects that they consider as priorities for their communities.
The mechanism is intended to ensure that public funds are transferred directly to projects chosen by residents through grassroots participatory democracy, a distinctive mark of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has described the process as a means of strengthening Venezuela’s democratic path and ensuring that communes themselves decide how the allocated resources should be used.
Venezuela: Delcy Rodríguez Schedules National Popular Consultation for October 11
The consultation is taking place alongside the nationwide selection of communal council spokespersons. Venezuela has more than 48,000 communal councils, and 18,000 of them are part of the current spokesperson election phase, which has the objective of legitimizing commune leadership, updating working committees, and safeguarding the continuation of locally organized projects.
In this regard, Cabello provided details on how the preparations are progressing for the Popular Consultation of October 18. “We already have almost all the names of the spokespersons ready, for the selection of the communal spokespersons. Next Monday, the deadline for application for projects ends. And we have almost completed it, with states that finished their task a long time ago,” he added.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/SC/CD
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