Venezuelan representative describes goal of 'power to the people'

During a recent U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange conference held in Tijuana, Mexico, Workers World interviewed Oswaldo Vera, a representative in the Venezuelan National Assembly and member of the Socialist Workers’ Bolivarian Force.

One of the major aspects of the constitutional reform proposed in Venezuela was the empowerment of the people, what is referred to as the “transfer of power to the people.” WW asked Vera to explain this concept.

Oswaldo Vera: In Venezuela, one of the orientations that we have discussed is the transfer of the power to the Venezuelan people. Within that we have proposed five councils that will be the beginning of the transfer of power.

The first one, already established, is called Communal Power and is for communities that include no more than 250 families. All the members of these 250 families meet and choose a spokesperson and a working team that is obliged to take care of security, nutritional needs and services, including water services and housing needs. In addition, a treasurer is selected to administer the resources for projects the community proposes and begin to develop the plan. Before this, the job depended fundamentally on the mayors, and there was a long process of searching for the mayor and looking for officials who could approve the resources.

The constitutional reform contained more proposals. Part of the project was to add 250 more families to the first group of 250, creating a network of Communal Councils (CC). It would have its own bank for the community, which would include a larger operational range. Later, we have a larger body, what we call a federation of the CCs, that would include parishes (neighborhoods) or larger areas. The fundamental idea is to eventually create a Confederation of CCs with the same characteristics and decision-making power but that would deal with larger projects for the area. That is what we have called the transfer of power.

But we also have it in the labor area. We now have some national companies that are companies of social production and will guarantee nutrition, gas, electricity and other services for all the population. The Workers’ Councils (WC) in those areas will elaborate the plans, make the planning and deliver the services. These are companies of the workers, of the ones who live in that zone, with direct contribution from the national executive. The profits of that company will be invested in that zone.

Also, in large companies like PDVSA [Venezuela’s state oil company], the role of the workers and the WC is to monitor the policies that the state develops. The workers will supervise the managers and they will have the capacity to propose projects and show how they should be oriented. But above all, the workers will monitor the company; if by any circumstance a project is elaborated that does not agree with the development plans for the nation, the WC, the organization of the workers, can denounce it under mechanisms that are already established to stop policies of this nature.

Another is the Peasants’ Councils (PC). They are the ones in charge of investigating and finding out if large tracts of land are not being cultivated, are not producing. The PC can divide them into small parcels and distribute that land among the peasants in the area so that the land becomes productive with agricultural activity and/or raising cattle. The state will provide the necessary equipment, which will become the property of the peasants—not individually, but the collective property of the organized peasants.

Also Student Councils are being created. Those, jointly with the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, will elaborate policies and the role that students should have. The students, on a voluntary basis through those Councils, will go to the poorest and less-developed areas to educate the population. It is what we have called the “transfer of the schools” of the colleges and universities in each area of work. We have an example in higher education, what we called the University Villages. It is not that the Venezuelan who lives far away will go to the university; it is that the university will be transferred to the communities. This education must later be revalidated in the regular system.

WW: Who will be in charge of monitoring the resources given to the different councils and ensuring that they are used for what the community decided?

OV: Indeed. As well as a treasurer, there is also a comptroller from the community, from the council. They are in charge of watching those who have the responsibility of investing the funds. In this way we have what we call the transfer of power to the people; of not depending on a civil employee, or a mayor or a governor. No, the organized community begins to solve its own problems.

It has an important role. For example, companies could hoard foods or any type of product necessary for the people. Those councils have the obligation, the necessity to investigate—both the Workers’ Council, because they are the ones who produce and they know what is being produced, and the community, which knows that a particular supermarket or commercial center could be hoarding.

The councils also check to see if there are children who are not attending school, if there are youth who are not engaged in sports or education, and can elaborate a census that allows the Venezuelan state, the national government and the National Assembly to devise policies to rescue those youth.

The community’s decision is by itself a basis for the organisms of the state and the courts to make a decision and it is binding. In the case, for example, of factories, the organism is the Ministry of Labor and the Labor Inspector, where any irregularity like violations of conditions or projects that are not appropriate can be denounced. An investigation is opened and it could cause the dismissal of the official or administrative sanctions. It could even be tried in court depending on the seriousness of the fault.