By Luis Manuel Aguana
Perhaps the
most important article of this and of the last Constitution of the Republic of
Venezuela is the one referring to who is the depositary of Popular Sovereignty.
In both Constitutions, sovereignty always resides in the people. However, from
the Constitution of 1961 to that of 1999, there was a transcendental change that
we Venezuelans have hardly noticed in its due dimension. Let's see:
Constitution
of 1961, "Article 4: Sovereignty
resides in the people, who exercise it, through suffrage, by the organs of the
Public Power”.
Constitution
of 1999 (in force), "Article 5:
Sovereignty resides untransferably in the people, who exercise it directly in
the manner provided for in this Constitution and the law, and indirectly,
through suffrage, by the organs that exercise Public Power. The organs of the
State emanate from popular sovereignty and are subject to it".
This change
modified the way of exercising sovereignty. Before the 1999 Constitution was in
force, there was no way to escape from the organs of representation of the
Public Power. For example, the deputy citizens of the old National Congress,
once invested with the authority given to them by the citizens' votes,
exercised Popular Sovereignty for us, being able to impose any decision they
might have without Venezuelans having a way to change that. In other words,
with the elections we gave them a 5-year corso patent to govern without any
restrictions, of course within the limits imposed by law.
With the
modification of the way of exercising Sovereignty, from 1999 the people can now
directly exercise their Sovereignty "in
the manner provided for in this Constitution and in the law", leaving
it to the organs of the State to exercise it indirectly through suffrage, but
with an important pigtail: In one way or another "The organs of the State emanate from popular sovereignty and are subject
to it". In other words, when the people exercise their sovereignty,
they rule over the organs of the State.
Hence, from
1999 onwards, the system ceased to be exclusively representative and became
additionally participatory. That is, using the tools provided in the
Constitution itself, the Venezuelan people can and must directly exercise the
sovereignty of which they are constitutionally depository. And how would that
sovereignty be exercised? It is established in Article 70 of the Constitution:
"Article 70. They are means of participation and protagonism of the people in the
exercise of their sovereignty, in the political sphere: the election of public
offices, the referendum, the popular consultation, the revocation of the
mandate, the legislative, constitutional and constituent initiative, the open
town hall and the assembly of citizens whose decisions will be binding, among
others; and in social and economic matters, the instances of citizen
attention, self-management, co-management, cooperatives in all their forms
including those of a financial nature, savings banks, community enterprises and
other associative forms guided by the values of mutual cooperation and
solidarity. The law shall establish the conditions for the effective operation
of the means of participation provided for in this article." (Emphasis
added).
And these
means of participation of the people "in the exercise of their
sovereignty" established in Article 70, it is possible that they would
have opened a Pandora's Box for any truly democratic government, but this was
not the case for that of Hugo Chávez Frías, and of course much less for that of
Nicolás Maduro Moros, quite the opposite. The people have tried without much
success since 1999 these mechanisms to directly exercise Popular Sovereignty,
but they are still there as useless instruments against a regime that violates
the Constitution when it pleases. We have held referendums revoking the popular
mandate, popular consultations, town councils, citizens' assemblies, and have
done little to change the regime and the state of affairs in the country. The
Sovereignty so boasted in the Constitution is ignored.
But I'm not
telling you anything new with all this. You know that. So why do you propose
another Popular Consultation? So that it will be ignored like the one of July
16, 2017? And the answer is not so obvious. From my perspective, the proposal
made public to Venezuelans on April 19 (see in Spanish The People Order the
Cessation of Usurpation and Request the Fulfillment of the Duty and Responsibility
to Protect (R2P), in http://chng.it/jhtctxLH) has an
eminently political background addressed to the world in two very precise
senses:
a) The people order, in direct exercise of their sovereignty established
in the Constitution, the Cessation of Usurpation, dismissing Nicolás Maduro
Moros, in a clear and direct demonstration through suffrage using a means of
legitimate participation that the Constitution has conferred on Venezuelans
since 1999. It is not a demonstration measured in a poll or in street marches,
however multitudinous they may be - which are otherwise valid - but which does
not include all Venezuelans with the capacity to vote, both inside and outside
Venezuela; and
b) Request international assistance (SOS) to immediately stop the crimes
of against humanity being committed by the regime of Nicolás Maduro Moros in
our country, recalling the obligation of the States signatories to the
Principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to intervene when a State commits
crimes against humanity within its territory, hiding behind the principle of
State sovereignty. The crimes of against humanity committed by the regime of
Nicolás Maduro Moros have been proved more than enough to the international
community through reports regarding the violation of human rights in Venezuela,
the OAS and the UN.
The
Consultation would tell all States of the world that, 1) constitutionally, we
are in a position to order the de facto ruler's departure and establish that
the government is illegal; and 2) that we, making use of our prerogative to
directly exercise our sovereignty, the mourners of this country, and those of
us who suffer the humanitarian tragedy ourselves, not our representatives in
the National Assembly, nor any other official of the organs of Public Power,
request the International Community to materialize the Principle of
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Venezuela based on Treaties signed by
Venezuela (UN). If the countries of the world look the other way when faced
with this request, it will not be because those who lead the official
opposition did not request it for us, but because the Venezuelans themselves
did it and ignored us. That has a political power of several orders of
magnitude that I doubt countries will dare to ignore.
This
Popular Consultation does not seek for any organ of public power in Venezuela
to do anything, not even the National Assembly. It is in no way in opposition
to the interests of all to promote the established trilogy that begins with the
Cessation of Usurpation. But it may well be against some factors of the
official opposition that wish to manage the process with interest, delaying in
their benefit the exit from the regime and consequently arriving at
negotiations that imply an undue cohabitation that we all reject, during a
Transitional Government.
On the
other hand, if in Venezuela there is a system that is completely
constitutionally open to popular participation, and we know that the regime has
denied our right to directly exercise our sovereignty, then why is it precisely
the official opposition that denies the right of citizens to express their
opinion in this dark hour of our Nation? Why deny us a Popular Consultation to
express our opinion in relation to an intervention of a humanitarian nature? It
is absolutely unacceptable that at this moment in the life of the country the
people do not express themselves directly in relation to their destiny and the
deputies unduly deny what the people are demanding of them.
There is no
reason not to complement the march called for May 1st, consulting the
Venezuelan people on the fate of the Nation. We will never have a march with
more than 7.5 million participants, as happened on July 16, 2017. Mr. President
Guaidó, convoke this national and international Popular Consultation. There is
a proposal there, analyze it and you will see that there is nothing in it that
is against what you promote, quite the opposite. An order from the people in
direct exercise of their sovereignty to the Cessation of Usurpation would be
the constitutional platform of immediate and ideal support for the Transitional
Government, and your support would have for you the legitimacy of suffrage.
Remember that the only one that the people of Venezuela have been supporting
since January 23 is you, the rest are the disposable clowns of the great circus
that Venezuela has become....
Caracas, April 21, 2019
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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