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1999 Constitution
 With
the overwhelming electoral victory of President Hugo Chávez
Frías in 1999, Venezuela initiated a process of innovative
changes in the national history. The Bolivarian
Constitution, approved by referendum that same year,
fashioned a new Project of Nation.
The new Constitution established a new concept of democracy:
participatory and protagonist. It expanded the branches of
the National Public Power, adding to the classical
distribution of powers, inherited from the French
Revolution, the Moral Power and the Electoral Power.
The Constitution expanded the political and civil rights and
the economic, social and cultural rights. It granted
constitutional rank to the International Treaties,
subscribed by the Republic, in human rights. It established
freedom of association and participation beyond the right to
vote. It acknowledged the right of indigenous peoples to
their habitat and original rights on the lands that they
ancestrally and traditionally occupy. It guaranteed free
education and health care. It consecrated environmental
rights in favour of sustainable development and the
conservation of our planet.
The 1999 novel Constitution activated and granted
preeminence to the Constituent Power and established four
types of Popular Referendum (Consultative, Recall, to
Approve and to Abrogate). Incidentally, in no other country
in the world, excepting Venezuela, the Recall referendum has
been activated against the President of the Republic. And,
as it is well known, President Hugo Chávez Frías was
re-legitimated with wide popular support.
These are some of the novelties, without paragon in the
constitutional history of our country contained in the 1999
Constitution.
II
Achievements of the Bolivarian Government and Fulfillment of
the Goals of the Millennium
International Organizations such as the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), UNESCO, UNICEF,
ECLAC, PHO and WHO, have acknowledged the
spectacular economic and social goals achieved, in such a
short time, by the Government headed by President Hugo
Chávez Frías.
And these are some statistics.
The economic growth of the Venezuelan economy is one of the
highest in the world. Let’s examine it: since the last
term of 2003 until the end of 2006 – and during 13
successive terms- the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has
increased to an average of 13.3%, an amount that represents
an unprecedented record in the economic history of our
country.
The social policy of our Government, on the other hand, is
oriented to guaranteeing the universality of human rights,
and to implement this policy with absolute determination.
In a period of eight years, Venezuela has doubled social
investment, from 8.2% of the GDP in 1998, when President
Hugo Chávez was elected, to 15% in 2006.
The Bolivarian Government also fulfills international
commitments. The Millennium Goals and Objectives determined
by the United Nations in 2000 are being successfully
accomplished in Venezuela. Some of these goals have already
been reached, even though they were supposed to be fulfilled
by 2015.
The Bolivarian Government is devoted to fight poverty and
inequity. According to the Venezuelan National Institute of
Statistics, in 1998 poverty was estimated at 43.9% and
extreme poverty at 17.196. Since 2004, poverty decreased to
30.4% in the second term of 2006. And extreme poverty
declined to 9.1%. The Bolivarian Government is fighting
poverty in a substantial manner.
According to the United Nations Development Programme
(PNUD), the Human Development Index reached 0.69 in 1998 and
it increased to 0.88 in 2006. Unemployment in 1999 was
16.6%, it decreased to 8.3% (almost half), in June 2007.
And there is a fact that Venezuelans should remember with
patriotic pride, and that I would like to mention: UNESCO
declared Venezuela territory free of illiteracy in October,
2005.
The Government headed by President Hugo Chávez Frías
considers, however, that these achievements are not
sufficient. The challenge ahead for our revolution is to
deepen them, to foster our people’s will and creative
capacity to change.
III
Why the Constitutional Reform?
The 1999 Constitution established the foundations for the
construction of a new model for a caring and humanistic
society. A constitutional reform is required to advance and
consolidate the democratic conquests achieved by our people
to respond to the demands of the new phase of the Bolivarian
Revolution.
Constitutions must reflect the historic changes produced in
societies. The illustrious jurist, Manuel García Pelayo,
who integrated the Constitutional Tribunal of Spain, and
died in Caracas in 1991, pointed out that: "The Constitution
must be considered as a dynamic structure, that is to day,
produced by elements in mutation and, therefore, variable in
itself.”
The wise words of our Liberator, Simón Bolívar, are relevant
here. At the inauguration of the Angostura Congress, on
February 15th, 1819, and in view of the need to reform the
Constitution of Venezuela, he wondered: "Doesn’t the
Spirit of Laws reveal that these must be appropriate for
the people for whom they are drafted? … That the laws must
relate to the physical aspect of the country, the climate,
the quality of the land, its location, its extension, the
kind of life of its people?
Inspired on these principles of constitutional law, and
responding to the changes demanded by the current process of
transformation in our country, the President of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías,
exercising his faculties conferred to him by Article 432 of
our Carta Magna, presented to the National Assembly and to
the Venezuelan people, on the 15th of August, 2007, a draft
of Constitutional Reform.
IV
Aspects of the Constitutional Reform
The Reform sets to modify less than the 10% of the articles
of the Constitution, that is, 33 of the 350 articles. The
Reform does not modify the structure and the fundamental
principles of the current constitutional text.
For example, fundamental articles, such as Article 2 are not
altered. It defines Venezuela as a “Democratic, and Social
State of Law and Justice, which holds as superior values of
its legal order and actions those of life, liberty, justice,
equality, solidarity, democracy, social responsibility and,
in general, the preeminence of human rights, ethics and
political pluralism."
Likewise, Article 6 of the Constitution remains unchanged;
it establishes that, “The Government of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela and the political organs comprising
the same is and shall always be democratic, participatory,
elective, decentralized, alternative, responsible and
pluralist with revocable mandates.”
The Reform includes novel proposals aiming at building in
Venezuela the Bolivarian Socialism. President Hugo Chávez
Frías has exhorted all sectors of the Nation to widely
discuss and debate it. The National Assembly, at the same
time, has created a “Situational Hall” to receive and
systematize the opinions emanating from all sectors of the
national life.
The Assembly will approve, in first instance, the Draft of
the Reform, which will be submitted to a Popular Referendum
for its definite approval, in compliance with Article 344 of
the National Constitution.
The Venezuelan People, in its full exercise of its
sovereignty, can approve the changes to the National
Constitution.
Representatives of the political opposition affirm that the
constitutional reform will weaken democratic liberties. I
can assure you that this is a complete groundless
affirmation. On the contrary, the reform, and this is its
true sense, will expand the margins of liberty, equality,
justice and solidarity in Venezuela, and will create the
basis for the construction of a democratic society of a
socialist nature.
These spokesmen, determined to perpetuate the immoral
privileges of a few, intend to prevent more power to be
transferred to the people, and that it fully exercises its
rights. And they are willing to recur, even to violence, to
impede it.
V
NEW POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY AND OTHER
GEOGRAPHICAL SPACES
The Reform proposes the national territory to be fashioned –
for political and territorial aims, and in compliance with
the new geometry of power- by a Federal District, seat of
the Capital of the Republic; the States, the Maritime
regions; the Federal Territories; the Federal
Municipalities, and the Insular Districts.
The Reform establishes that, "The primary political unity of
the national territorial organization will be the city,
understanding it as any settlement within the Municipalities
and integrated by areas or geographical extensions called
Communes.” These Communes will be the geo-human cells of
the territory and they will be formed by Communities, each
one of them will represent the basic and indivisible spatial
nucleus of the Socialist State.
The Reform addresses an important historic cultural change:
all the settlements, independently of its geographic
extension and its population density, will have the status
of city. In this sense, the Reform proposes to create a
democratic society of citizens. And all of them, without
any discrimination, will enjoy and will be entitled to their
right to the city. This is a true innovation in
Constitutional matter.
And at this point, I would like to call on your attention on
a subject that must not be overlooked. The Constitutional
reform develops and implements what is addressed in a Report
of the United Nations Development Programme (PNUD), 2004,
entitled "Democracy in Latin America: towards a Democracy of
citizens."
The Report advises that, “the tendencies related to social
citizenship are really unsettling and they represent the
main challenge for Latin American democracies, since, and
above all, the groups most excluded from the full exercise
of their social citizenship are those deprived in all other
areas of citizenship.”
Thus, the report calls to urgently implement “a policy
generator of democratic power, which objective is to reach
an integral citizenship.” And this is, precisely, the
constitutional reform presented by the leader of the
Bolivarian Revolution, Commander Hugo Chávez Frías.
And, we want to highlight this; there is an indissoluble
interconnection between democracy and the right to
citizenship. Therefore, the UNDP report expresses that the
development of democracy demands the expansion of this
right. The creation of a citizenship for all, addressed in
the constitutional reform, deepens democracy in Venezuela.
The report holds that, “the sustainable reduction of poverty
requires… that the poor be given political power.”
And this is, precisely, what has been done in Venezuela
since 1999. And that is precisely what President Hugo
Chávez Frías proposes with the creation of a new Power: the
Popular Power.
The new geometry of power proposed in the reform does not
mean concentration of power. On the contrary, it proposes –
in essence- the increasing transfer of power to the
Venezuelan people, through the community participation in
the projects of national development.
VI
THE PRESIDENTIAL REELECTION
The Constitutional Reform proposes the presidential
continuous re-election and the increase of the presidential
period from 6 to 7 years. It does not establish perpetual
or re-election for life of the President of the Republic.
The President could be re-elected continuously if the people
decides it so by means of universal, free and transparent
suffrage.
It is important to highlight that the Venezuelan people has
the right to revoke any elected officer, including the
President of the Republic, if its expectations are not
satisfied. The Reform does not propose the modification of
Article 72 of the Constitution, in reference to the Recall
Referendum which establishes that “All posts and magistrates
of popular election can be recalled.”
In other words, the permanence, or not, of a ruler in power,
depends on the sovereign decision of the Venezuelan people.
The proposal of re-election continues to cause an extensive
debate and generates biased interpretations, nationally and
internationally. In this regard, it is pertinent to
highlight that in 17 of the 27 countries that integrate the
European Union, the figure of continuous re-election exists
in their constitutions. Let’s mention them: Germany,
France, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden,
Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark, the Netherlands, Cyprus,
Slovenia, Lithonia, Slovaquia, Estonia and Greece. And who
would even think of referring to these countries as
anti-democratic for having a continuous re-election? The
Secretary General of the OAS, Dr. José Miguel Insulza,
expressed his opinion on this subject. He recently declared
in the Chilean TV programme, “Hora de infidentes”, channel
13, that “there is democracy in Venezuela”. He also
recalled that until 1948, the presidential periods in the
United States were unlimited. And no one would ever label
as a dictatorship the political system of that period in the
history of that country.
The form of continuous election proposed in the
constitutional reform does not represent an obstacle to the
principle of alternation in power. The continuity of a
person in power has a democratic character in the measure
that it is subject to electoral processes. It is then, the
people, who in a sovereign manner elects and decides about
its rulers.
VII
OF THE ECONOMIC RIGHTS
In the Constitutional Reform diverse forms of property are
recognized: Public, Social, Communal, Citizenship,
Collective, Mixed and Private. President Chávez has been
very clear in pointing out that he does not share the thesis
of eliminating all forms of private property on the means of
production. And he has called on the small and medium
producers to form a productive alliance to improve the
economy of the country. With the Constitutional Reform the
social function of the State is strengthened. It fosters
and protects the public property, mixed enterprises and the
novel social economy; at the same time; it promotes and
protects private property.
The Constitutional Reform fosters an economy in function of
social justice. It stimulates the common good and not the
maximum gain. It postulates the elimination of monopoly and
of large estates, perversions of capitalism and feudalism
that still exist in Venezuela. The Venezuelan State will
promote the development of a productive, economic,
intermediate, diversified, independent and inclusive model,
founded on humanistic values of cooperation.
This economic model of social production does not exclude
any sector of the society; therefore, it will foster and
develop diverse forms of enterprises and economic units of
social property, be it direct or communal, as well as
indirect or of the State.
In the draft of the Reform, the Venezuelan State reserves
for itself, for reasons of sovereignty, the development and
national interest, the activity of exploitation of liquid,
solid and gaseous hydrocarbons, as well as exploitation,
services and goods of public interest and of strategic
character.
VIII
Of Social and Family Rights
The Reform of the Constitution includes important benefits
for workers. It proposes the reduction of the working day
from 8 to 6 hours for workers to have sufficient time for
their integral development. A Social Stability fund is
created for non dependent workers -who work on their own-
and social security for cultural workers.
IX
OF PUBLIC POWER
With the proposal of Constitutional Reform the sixth power
is created: the Popular Power. This is a key aspect of the
Reform.
The Popular Power is expressed through the constitution of
communities, the communes and the self government of cities,
through Communal Councils, Workers Councils, Farmers
Councils, Students Councils and other organs contemplated in
the law.
These Councils represent new forms of direct democracy. In
the Communal Councils the citizenship will have the
possibility to debate, analyze and decide issues of local
interest.
The people is the depositary of sovereign exercising it
directly through the popular power. This does not originate
from suffrage or any election, but from the condition of
human groups organized as the basis of the population.
The Reform proposes the creation of a new figure in the
Public Administration: the Missions, constituted by
organizations of various nature, established to attend to
the most sensitive and urgent needs of the population.
The Bolivarian Revolution is and will be a process founded
on the protagonism of the people, on its constituent power,
which is organized from below upwards.
Venezuelans, in this luminous time of our history, feel to
be interpreted by the great poet Aquiles Nazoa, who
exclaimed: …”I believe in love and in art as a means to
enjoy everlasting life… I believe in friendship as the most
beautiful invention of mankind, I believe in the creative
powers of the people…”
X
Towards the Venezuelan Socialism
as an alternative to effectively fight poverty,
exploitation, war and domination, consubstantial with
capitalism, President Hugo Chávez Frías has proposed the
construction of the Bolivarian Socialism, a fascinating
challenge derived from an ethic commitment with the
excluded.
The historic failure of capitalism advises today the
construction of a new world order that responds to the
pressing expectations of liberty, justice and equality for
millions of human beings in the entire world.
Today, it is necessary to formulate a new paradigm, founded
on values and principles treasured by mankind along its
history. A new paradigm that rescues the creative potentials
of utopia. And, it is not about building a world of
chimeras, as proposed by the primitive utopias of Thomas
Moro and his followers, up to the utopian Socialists. It
is, on the contrary, to design a possible utopia.
It is time to remember the great universal poet, William
Blake, who exclaimed: "What today is proved yesterday was
only imagined.”
The socialist model, for which we struggle in Venezuela, is
profoundly human and democratic. It fosters pluralism and
highlights the supremacy of the Popular Power. It respects
human rights.
Our President invites to humanize the world and to change
society; to build the kingdom of the human being. In his
words, “The human being in freedom; in freedom from misery,
in freedom from exploitation, in freedom from
discrimination, in freedom from backwardness, so we can soar
and build, as Bolivar said, in this place of the world, the
greatest nation in the universe, less for its extension and
wealth, than for its liberty and its glory.”
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