Community Consultations Are the Backbone of the Bolivarian Revolution
Venezuelans line up to participate in the popular consultation, Tachira state, Feb. 2, 2025. X/ @ConElMazoDando
February 2, 2025 Hour: 3:05 pm
Today’s national consultation was preceded by local assemblies in which all citizens aged 15 and older could participate.
On Sunday, millions of Venezuelans participated in the first National Popular Consultation of 2025 to prioritize development projects that will be carried out at the community level.
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This year, the popular consultation was preceded by assemblies held throughout Venezuelan territory, in which all citizens aged 15 and older could participate. More specifically, this direct democracy process has been developed in four stages:
1-. Community councils present concrete proposals for local territorial development.
2-. The population organizes assemblies to debate the proposals presented in their territory.
3-. On the day of the national vote, citizens vote for the development projects they want to prioritize for their communities.
4-. The development projects with the most votes receive funding from the Venezuelan state for their implementation.
This time, between January 18 and 21, people proposed 36,241 development projects during citizen assemblies. These proposals were registered in the Community Integration System (SINCO) for subsequent financing through the Federal Government Council (CFG), an institution created to channel national resources to the regions through a framework of competency transfers.
“We persist on the constitutional path: we distribute wealth while confronting neoliberalism,” declared Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the 2025 CFG Plenary Session.
The 46,762 communes and community councils currently existing in Venezuela originally emerged in 2010 in response to destabilization threats created by the U.S.-backed far right. However, they now play a broader role.
“They are the backbone of the Bolivarian Revolution. They are strategic in defining the country’s future,” said Jorge Arreaza, vice president of the Communes Commission of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
In Venezuela, the community-based governance model is being built as an alternative to the classic liberal political system. Among other things, it seeks to establish itself as an exercise in participatory sovereignty amid an international context of constant aggressions against the Bolivarian Revolution.
“Community democracy is our trench against imperialism,” President Maduro emphasized, highlighting that this Venezuelan experiment is defining not only the future of the Bolivarian Revolution but also offering a governance model for the global left.
teleSUR/ JF Source: VTV – teleSUR