00:00And to talk more on the importance of today's public consultation in Venezuela, let's welcome
00:05analyst and human rights specialist David Lopez. Welcome, David, to From the South.
00:10Hello, good evening from Beijing today. Thank you very much for the invitation.
00:15It's our pleasure to have you. David, from an international perspective, how can we interpret
00:20the holding of this public consultation? Is it simply a local planning mechanism or does
00:24it represent a further step in the construction of the communal state envisioned by the Venezuelan
00:29constitution?
00:32So something we have to understand is that the fourth national popular consultation
00:38responds to the exercise of the democracy in the middle of many threats. We can remember
00:46that the Vienna declaration and program of action mentioned that the democracy is an universality
00:54of ideals who can give guarantees of the democracy. So this is something that Venezuela is exercising
01:04just right now to give the guarantee for the international law. Something that since many
01:11months since the as well many years when started the genocide in Palestine, the international law
01:21is unfortunately attacked. But we have countries like Venezuela like today made this consultation
01:29and give guarantees of respect of the international law. So this is not a political mechanism
01:38only because, of course, it's part of the constitutional law, but it's as well part of the international
01:46rules and international rights, basically international rights we have in the international
01:53covenant of political and civil rights. This is something very important we have to understand
01:59today.
02:00In your experience, do similar actions like these participants in democracy on this scale that
02:05is happening today in Venezuela, do they exist in other parts of the world?
02:10Yes, and you know, this is very interesting because we know that the United States today consider,
02:17for example, that these kind of policies to consult the people in the middle of the threats they
02:24have, it's absolutely a political manipulation. But remember that Switzerland has a system where the
02:32people can request the different the referendum by the federal constitution. And in this context,
02:40because it's Switzerland, the United States will never mention nothing because it's Switzerland,
02:44because it's a friend. But because here we have Venezuela who make this consultation. So Venezuela
02:51tried to use mechanisms to hide all the criminal criminal acts they made. So this is what mentioned
03:03the United States, we know this is wrong. This is maybe the way used by the United States to manipulate
03:11the people and give to them the idea that the President Maduro is using the many instruments to
03:21hide criminalities who never existed because it has no proof about that. All what is mentioned from
03:27Washington that President Maduro rates and aqua traffic and etc. until today has no proof. Today, what we see,
03:34it's again, the respect of the international law, what who is as well warranted in the UN charter of the United
03:44nation and the Vienna declaration as well. In your opinion, is this model successfully attracting and
03:53involving new generations of Venezuela, as we saw earlier in the year, the youth public consultation,
03:58which had excellent results. So how important is that youth is also encouraged to participate in today's process?
04:03You know, this is very important that this process happen because actually on the Western countries,
04:11it's very strange that the people have the opportunities to vote. We have to mention that in numbers today,
04:19we have 36,624 community projects who are voted today in 5,336 communal circuits,
04:319,963 polling stations and 8,630 electoral centers where in which country today, not only in Europe,
04:46but around the world, it excised. It don't excise just right now, only in Venezuela. This is the
04:55respect and promote of the democracy. And this is important to know that because it means that it
05:01have a part on the world, on the side of the world, where our country is beginning to give the example of
05:10the right democracy needed right now, not only in Latin America, but as well in the United States,
05:17where the people have no opportunity to choice which life they want to have, which condition of the
05:25dignity want to have the European people. This is very important that happened. And in Venezuela, in this
05:33sense, it's like the start who bright right now on the democracy and on the hope of the respect of the
05:42international law. You referred to this a bit earlier in hegemonic media, Venezuela is often portrayed as an
05:48authoritarian state. In your analysis, do you do processes like this public consultation serve to
05:53counter that narrative and show the nation's true democratic values?
05:57Yeah, exactly. And here, the media, as you mentioned, are very important to be taken in
06:05consideration, because here, the media are like a weapon, we have to be careful with that.
06:14Of course, today, you will see, for example, BBC, CNN, and other Western media who will mention that this is
06:21a manipulation from the President Maduro to don't be invaded by the United States,
06:26an invasion who is totally illegal on the framework of the international law. But again, this is the
06:34importance and the diversity of the media when they try to manipulate a reality
06:43who has not reason to exist. In opposite, these medias have to inform what happened. They have to
06:50informed that these kind of actions are on the framework of the international law. And this is
06:57important to repeat that again and again, because actually, Venezuela, what makes the country right
07:03now, it's only to make something that is warranted in the UN Charter. This is not something that is
07:11manipulated by the government. Any other country can make that just right now. Why they don't make that?
07:18Because it have interest behind. And unfortunately, many medias hide that. And this is very important to
07:24understand that what I mentioned just right here, it's not that just for the people believe what I mentioned is, I
07:31mentioned that because the people need to have the curiosity to go and search what happened, what right may be in the
07:38international law and why this election happened. It's for this reason that the United States is
07:44today angry, because they don't accept that the Venezuelan people has today the possibility and the
07:51power to go to the streets and vote what they want to choose. This is something who never happened in the
07:57United States. It happened on the country who has the biggest oil reserves around the world, that today,
08:04the United States need to be a stronger country against Russia and China today.
08:13Thank you very much, David Lopez, international analyst and human rights specialist for your
08:17inputs here with us in From the South. Thank you to you and have a good day in Latin America.
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