B/N: Venezuela's Public Consultation Demonstrates Participatory Democracy Amid International Criticism

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International analyst David López has highlighted the significance of Venezuela's Fourth National Popular Consultation, describing it as a legitimate exercise of democracy under international law. The consultation features 36,674 community projects across 5,336 communal circuits, with 8,630 electoral centers established nationwide. López contrasted Venezuela's participatory process with Western democracies, noting that such direct community decision-making is rare globally. He argued that Western media narratives often misrepresent Venezuela's democratic processes, emphasizing that the consultation aligns with UN Charter principles and represents genuine popular sovereignty rather than authoritarianism.

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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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