It would seem that in Venezuela there have not been Constituent processes before, to the point that when someone touches the subject, the rejection is immediate. And this is very unfortunate given the profound historical significance that these processes have had in the transformation of the political reality of Venezuela. And the reason is well known to all: Chávez used a Constituent process, a tool that has been part of our historical reserve, to destroy Venezuelan institutionality and fabricate a tailor-made Constitution, which although it is true, incorporated very important aspects in the defense and protection of Human Rights (rights that he trampled to levels never seen before in Venezuela), also destroyed other important institutions deeply rooted in Venezuela, such as the federal representation of the States with the disappearance of the Senate, and the centralization of the military promotions of the high ranks of the Armed Forces, in the person of the President of the Republic, an act considered as the first step of the current destruction of this fundamental institution for the defense of our democracy and of the country.
However, although recent history has been traumatic for the country since the 1999 Constituent Assembly, this in no way means that we forget the unique transcendence that these processes have had in our republican tradition to repair the immense damage caused to the country, and that they can only be addressed if Venezuelans fully understand the need to convene again, but on a completely different basis, with the main objective of picking up the pieces of a country and a State that have been deliberately dismantled by a tyranny of criminals. That is what this information effort we are making from this tribune is all about.
This is not the first time that Venezuela has undertaken a Constituent Assembly process. And just as the 1999 Constituent Assembly produced a Constitution that was used by criminals to dismantle the State and ruin Venezuelans, there were also Constituent Assemblies carried out to build it by distinguished Venezuelans. For reasons of space I will only refer to a very significant Constituent Assembly in the history of Venezuela that produced the first Constitution of the century that recognized the civil rights of Venezuelans, and especially the rights of our women. That process did not arise from a Popular Consultation, and was convened by a Government Junta as a result of a Military Coup, which today's history knows as the October Revolution of 1945:
"On October 18, 1945, a group of military men with the help of the Acción Democrática party carried out a coup d'état against President Isaías Medina Angarita in what they called the October Revolution, due to the lack of legitimacy of this new Revolutionary Government Junta, it was decided to call elections to elect 160 constituents in 1946; these constituents were the ones who would repeal the 1936 constitution reformed nine years later, among the most prominent constituents were Andrés Eloy Blanco, Rafael Caldera, Gustavo Machado and Lorenzo Fernández, among others". (highlighted our) (see in Spanish, Constitución de Venezuela de 1947, in https://es.linkfang.org/wiki/Constituci%C3%B3n_de_Venezuela_de_1947).
Interestingly, the text states that "in view of the lack of legitimacy of this new Revolutionary Government Junta" they decided to call for elections to elect Constituents. And although this may not have been the only reason, certainly the political instability of the country at that time demanded it. They did not go directly to free elections. No. They went to a process of election of Constituents for an Assembly that elaborated a new Constitution that they promulgated on July 5, 1947, and that established the basis for a presidential election, with the consequent institutional change of the country.
The level of those who were in that Constituent Assembly that met from December 17, 1946 until the promulgation of the Constitution on July 5, 1947, was the most enlightened of the country's political intelligentsia. A Constituent Assembly that had the luxury of having the poet Andrés Eloy Blanco at its head. The Constituent Assembly of 1946-1947 is an example that Venezuelans can give us a Constitutional text worthy of our nationality and our historical gentilicio, with the best of our society. And the fact that a coup had swindled us with a Constituent Assembly that in 1999 introduced elements harmful to the Venezuelan institutionality, does not imply that we are not capable of repairing that situation, resurfacing and giving us a Constitution worthy of this brave people.
It should be noted that the procedure followed to convene this Constituent Assembly in 1946 did not follow the same route as the one convened in 1999. The Revolutionary Government Junta took the necessary foresight with enough time to approach this process conscientiously: "Decree number 52 of the Revolutionary Government Junta, issued on November 17, 1945, created a Preparatory Commission for the study and drafting of two projects, one of Electoral Statute and the other of Constitution, for the purpose of "facilitating the tasks of the National Constituent Assembly, presenting it, for its free and sovereign consideration, a Project of National Constitution that enshrines the democratic aspirations of the people proclaimed by the revolutionary movement". (see in Spanish, Gonzalo Parra Aranguren, La Nacionalidad Venezolana Originaria, Cap. 7, Pág. 400, Constitución de 5 de Julio de 1947, in http://acienpol.msinfo.info/bases/biblo/texto/L-1346/A-07.pdf).
In other words, the Junta had a clear idea of how the collegiate body would be elected and what would be discussed in the Constituent Assembly. Of course, this process responded to a well thought out project for the country, well thought out and macerated by the politicians who promoted the movement that resulted in that Revolutionary Government Junta and that later was transformed into facts through a Constitution that gave civil rights to Venezuelans.
That is to say, the Constitution of 1947 was not born from the manipulation of an electoral Kino to keep the majority of the constituent vote, nor from what a megalomaniac in Miraflores came up with every day during the sessions with the purpose of centralizing in his hands the Popular Sovereignty. No. It was born from a project conceived for the welfare of the citizens. What a difference... Hence, Venezuelans of this century should not and cannot confuse the instrument with the one who uses it, analyzing in detail the proposals made to the country.
Venezuela needs at this moment the urgent application of an instrument capable of achieving what the Venezuelans of 1947 achieved. These two Constituents, the one of 1946-1947 and the one of 1999 are the two sides of the same coin of what can be achieved with such a process. Just as there is God, there is the Devil. Either a country is built or it is destroyed. It is a very powerful weapon to return the country to its liberties and build institutions, which is precisely what we need now. It is an instrument not to "get rid of Maduro" and his regime but to straighten the lost course of Venezuelans. And by straightening it, we will leave the regime as a consequence.
Dr. Allan Brewer-Carias could not have expressed it better in 1999 when he asked the politicians of that time to do right what the coup leader of Sabaneta de Barinas ended up doing wrong: "As we have said, Venezuelans at the end of the 20th Century do not deserve to have to wait for a constitutional rupture to summon the people. In the current situation of terminal political crisis, produced by the deterioration of the political parties that since 1958 assumed the monopoly of power and of democratic representation and participation; and by the deterioration of the centralized State due to its inefficiency, the possibility of convening a Constituent Assembly, in democracy, is the most adequate way to avoid the rupture of the democratic process, solve the crisis, formulate a new constitutional social pact and a new political project, which, guaranteeing democracy, opens new channels of participation and decentralizes the country territorially". (see in Spanish, Allan R. Brewer-Carías, Asamblea Constituyente y Ordenamiento Constitucional, No. 53, Biblioteca de la Academia de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, Serie Estudios, Caracas, 1999. in http://allanbrewercarias.com/biblioteca-virtual/asamblea-constituyente-y-ordenamiento-constitucional/). Unfortunately, this cry was dismissed and, as the famous Brazilian educator Paulo Freire said, "The problem of Latin America is that while the wise doubt, the ignorant act". And the ignorant acted. Let's not let that happen again...
Caracas, June 12, 2021
Final note: Today the Alianza Nacional Constituyente Originaria, ANCO, set its position in relation to the political crisis and the course that the country must follow to get out of this tragic crisis where Venezuelans have been submerged. (see in Spanish Comunicado ANCO a los venezolanos y la Comunidad Internacional: La crisis es del pueblo venezolano y solo el pueblo venezolano debe resolverla, https://ancoficial.blogspot.com/2021/06/anco-los-venezolanos-y-la-comunidad.html). I consider it very pertinent not to fail to mention in this note this position coated with an indisputable seriousness against those who, without having the necessary legitimacy to represent us in dialogue or negotiation tables, since none of them privilege the principles and values that constitute our nation, do not manage the compliance in practice of the Popular Consultations, nor attend to the clamor of the majorities that absented themselves from the illegitimate presidential and parliamentary elections of 2018 and 2020. In such sense, we cannot fail to warn that those who serve as representatives of the opposition, lost the legitimate representation of the Venezuelan people at the end of their mandate on January 5, 2021 and consequently, the people must decide their destiny from now on. There is a power vacuum in Venezuela that must be filled by a legitimate and constituent representation of the Venezuelan people. Let the people decide!
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