(Caracas) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Wednesday the creation of a commission responsible for carrying out a constitutional reform leading to a “new state”, five days after his inauguration for a third term and while the opposition demands still victorious in the presidential election in July.
Posted yesterday at 8:17 p.m.
Without giving details on the changes he wishes to bring about, he declared that he wanted to “build a new State, by clearly defining the profile of the society we want from a cultural and institutional point of view”, during his annual speech. on the state of the nation Wednesday before the National Assembly.
It is a “great and powerful reform of the Constitution to expand democracy, to define the profile of society […] and lay the foundations clearer […] of a new, self-sufficient, non-dependent and diversified economy,” he said.
The left-wing leader also spoke of a “communal government system for this (presidential) period 2025-2031”, which the opposition sees as a way of taking power away from elected officials such as governors and mayors despite the promises from Maduro who assures that it is a “new system to govern with the people”.
The reform, which will be submitted to a referendum on an unspecified date, comes after the approval in recent months of several “anti-fascist” or “anti-corruption” laws deemed liberticidal by the opposition, which fears that they will make it possible to stop people criticizing those in power.
The commission will be chaired by Attorney General Tarek William Saab, who participated in the drafting of the 1999 Constitution, desired by former President Hugo Chavez. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and Mr. Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, are also on the commission.
Nicolas Maduro had a constituent assembly elected in 2017 to take back power from the Assembly elected in 2015 and then controlled by the opposition. This constituent assembly, however, did not reform the Constitution.
The socialist president was proclaimed winner of the July presidential election with 52% of the votes by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which however did not publish the minutes of the polling stations as required by law, claiming to be the victim of a computer hack. An explanation considered not very credible by many observers.
His victory was not recognized by much of the international community.
The opposition, which published the minutes provided by its scrutineers, assures that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained more than 67% of the votes in the July 28 vote.
The repression of demonstrations after the announcement of Mr. Maduro’s victory left 28 dead and around 200 injured, and more than 2,400 people were arrested.
“The (Venezuelan) regime is more alone every day, but no less dangerous for that,” declared Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia on Wednesday during a meeting with Venezuelans in Guatemala, where the opponent exiled in Spain since September arrived on Tuesday as part of a tour seeking diplomatic support.
A tour which has already taken him notably to Washington and Buenos Aires.
