By Luis Manuel Aguana
I imagine
that when reading the proposal of the National Constituent Alliance to convene
a Consultative Referendum so that the sovereign people can decide what to do
with this country (see The Solution resides in the Sovereign People, at http://ancoficial.blogspot.co.id/2017/10/la-solucion-reside-en-el-pueblo-soberano.html),
the first reaction of many people was: What? Another Consultation? Another
Constituent? The popular saying goes that “who's afraid of a snake biting is
afraid of a liana” and it's natural that this is the first reaction. But when
you're in a labyrinth, you have to climb into something to be able to
appreciate it from above to know where to go out. And that's what we did.
In the
Alliance we came with a clear planning that we made to all political sectors of
the country: let us convoke the Constituent Assembly through the means that the
Constitution gives us! And let us enforce compliance with what the Sovereign
dictates through as much street pressure as possible. That's why it was worth
dying on the streets, not for someone to be governor or president. If it wasn't
for pathetic reasons, it would be laughable: the only one who listened was the
regime and used it to flee forward, unconstitutionally summoning a Constituent
that now even sworn in opposition governors. It looked like we worked for them.
Nobody
listened to us. And maybe it was impossible for people to do so given the noise
of the speakers that had the main leaders calling for a recall referendum to
“get Maduro out”. Clearly, no one could compete with that. Constituent? Some
nuts asking for that when we want to get the government out? In the paroxysm of
what people want, it is very difficult to think if the immediate is right
there. That is how the regime and its opposition has annoyed us, not to say the
least.
But who has
been screwed up, in order to continue with the same word, from all this tragedy
that is not yet over? The political parties? The regime? The political leaders?
No. We are all Venezuelans. You and I. The parties are still there, trying to
see how they survive with a new election of mayors, and the budgets of those
mayors to pay for militancy and support. And how do we look there? Venezuelans
have to continue to steepen the regime with annualized inflation that according
to the International Monetary Fund is estimated to close in 2017 at 1.660% (See
news of 4-10-2017, IMF estimates that inflation will close in 2017 at 1.660%,
at http://www.finanzasdigital.com/2016/10/fmi-estima-que-inflacion-de-venezuela-cerrara-el-2017-en-1-660/).
It sounds easy, academic. But that means we no longer earn enough to eat.
Simple. This is without taking into account the serious problem of medicines
and treatments that sick people have to take every day and can no longer
acquire.
And like
all Venezuelans, we have to eat and the sick take medicine every day, we don't
understand why the parties and their leaders continue to prolong our agony,
indicating that with another election we solve this problem, which, as you can
understand, cannot last another day. So it is we who have the problem and we
must solve it. We can't keep waiting for someone else to solve it. But there
are some “details” to fix first. Let's see.
The regime
has already made a Constituent. It is unconstitutional and at the same time it
is a reality even though it is not recognized for that reason, neither by us
nor by the international community, and it is there doing things that must be
revoked by restoring the rule of law in the country. But the only one who can
constitutionally restore this problem is the people whom the regime has
violated that right.
We could talk
about a coup d'etat to restore legality. But here it is not about who is
stronger to prevail. Because if that were the case, the regime would be
“right”. It is not the reason for force, it is the force of reason, which is
the foundation of civilized nations. But what it does-or should do-strength is
to back the legal, the constitutional, that is, the reason.
It looks like a
play on words but it is not. The fact that those who have force at this moment,
are backing the "no reason" or the illegal and unconstitutional, does
not mean that the reason has disappeared and must at some point be imposed with
the backing of the force, any force. That is why it is necessary to say that it
is what must be done based on reason, legal and constitutional, even when those
who are responsible for fulfilling what is right for them do not do it.
Based on
the foregoing, we first conclude that the right violated to the Venezuelans to
decide whether or not we want a Constituent Assembly should be restored. Here
the Alliance is being firm and clear: we are not asking it to become a
constituent outside the will of Venezuelans. What we are asking is that the
people decide if they want it, which is a very different thing. And we
particularly want it for two very important reasons: 1) to initiate a true
process of reconciliation and national reunion that guarantees peace and
national unity, discussing a new country in which to live together; and 2) to
give the mandate to the National Constituent Assembly to execute what has
already been decided by the people in Question No. 3 of the 16J Popular
Consultation: renewal of the Public Powers and appointment of a Government of
the National Union. In this constitutional way, a new National Constituent
Assembly would not be attributed a right that only the people have to remove or
put governments and public powers.
However, in
order to reach that point, if we want to resolve this problem immediately, the
National Assembly of the opposing majority must do two things as soon as
possible: 1) designate a new National Electoral Council, equitable and
transparent, to guarantee Authentic Elections; and 2) use the simple majority they
have to convene a Consultative Referendum in the terms indicated in Article 71
of the Constitution to convene that Consultative Referendum with the new CNE.
And when we speak of an equitable and transparent CNE that guarantees Authentic
Elections, we are not referring to any arrangement that puts that CNE in the
hands of the regime, but rather a composition that gives Venezuelans confidence
to go and vote.
You will say,
"that is impossible. The regime will not allow a balanced CNE ". But
that should not stop the deputies from designating them as they should, in the
same way as they appointed the Magistrates who now dispatch from the OAS
headquarters in Washington, DC. I am sure that there will be capable and decent
Venezuelans who run for Rectors of a legitimate CNE. That is the fight that the
deputies must continue giving in favor of the restoration of freedom and
democracy.
Once these new Rectors of the CNE are appointed, the roads for that
Consultative Referendum will be opened, if the National Assembly approves it by
simple majority. But if it does not do it, nor does it appoint a new CNE that
guarantees equity and transparency, we will choose the constitutional way to
force that Consultative Referendum, collecting 10% of demonstrations of will,
because we have the constitutional right to do so, and keep those signatures
until there is a CNE that does guarantee our will. You will say, and when would
that be? And the answer remains the same, when we oblige ourselves civically in
the streets and by all the constitutional means, or as the 16J was done,
creating a political situation that reveals what the true will of the majority
is.
Will the Deputies of the National Assembly be willing to accompany us on
this route? They should do so if they understood the recent message from Luis
Almagro, when he was awarded the Francisco de Miranda Prize at the
Inter-American Institute for Democracy: “...
having an independent judiciary is the way forward. Have a National Assembly constituted according to its constitutional
powers, assuming its constitutional powers, assuming its institutional
responsibilities, because that National Assembly has a responsibility today,
after the installation of the National Constituent Assembly, to appoint a new
National Electoral Council…” (
see Luis Almagro at the Inter-American Institute for Democracy, https://youtu.be/JBc1_f8CQAQ minute
8:18).
If they don't take it, “God and the Fatherland will sue you...” as the
oath that they once swore says. It is not a matter of waiting around to see if
the parties take their responsibility and decide whether we die of hunger or
disease. We can't wait any longer, it's about our life. The solution,
therefore, lies with us...
Caracas, October 30, 2017
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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