00:12The Communes and Communal Circuits of the state of Merida are preparing through
00:16popular organizations to celebrate the popular consultation this Sunday.
00:20Correspondent Michelle Ramirez has the details.
00:2524 Communes of Merida State in the Venezuelan Andes region are ready for the election on
00:32October 18, during which more than 37,000 projects will be selected nationwide.
00:38With less than 24 hours to go before the election, commune members gathered in popular assemblies
00:45to verify the technical and logistical details of Election Day.
00:49Their goal is clear, to guarantee the people's vote.
00:55We are holding this People's Assembly with the residents of our commune and the commune's
00:59main spokespersons to finalize all the organizational details for Sunday.
01:03That is to say, we are preparing for what will be the next major popular consultation this
01:08Sunday, October 18, in which seven proposals per commune will participate.
01:13We are discussing issues related to participation by sector, mobilization and logistics so that
01:19our communes can reach the various polling places set up within the municipality's geographical
01:23area and exercise their right to vote starting at age 15.
01:28Here, the success of the consultations is evident in projects like this textile factory, which
01:34is named Heroinas de Merida, women and men who are weaving together sovereignty through this
01:40initiative, which was created to support the commune.
01:48It was founded by a group of producers.
01:51As you can see here, people from the commune who work in the textile industry, right?
01:57And the proposal was submitted specifically for the popular consultation on March 8 of this
02:04year, 2026.
02:06And, well, it won, where the commune approved the creation of a health insurance provider,
02:13Pursley, EPS, specifically for the textile sector, as you can see, and as everyone can
02:19see.
02:19It has become a reality.
02:22We have the machines here.
02:24We have the furniture here.
02:26We have raw materials here.
02:28And we're just getting started.
02:30Right now, we're producing school uniforms.
02:33And some of those school uniforms will be donated to certain schools and low-income families.
02:38And that's what we're doing for now.
02:43For them, their commune is a society of equals, where the collective well-being is the priority.
02:50And we will continue to fight for our communes, for the benefit of our communes, making all
02:56these projects a reality, because it is thanks to the revolutionary government that all the
03:01opportunities guaranteeing commune development and, of course, the social welfare that all our
03:06communes need.
03:08The grassroots commune expressed its firm commitment to this model of democratic and proactive participation,
03:15in which nearly 250 projects will be selected in this Andean state, focusing on issues of
03:22education, health, urban development, and socio-productive issues, in the camera of Jose Luis Briceño,
03:29Michelle Ramirez, Telesur, Merida, Venezuela.
