Venezuela | First election of community peace justices underway - video Dailymotion

teleSUR English

In Venezuela, citizens are electing 15,000 peace judges for the first time on December 15th. Our correspondent, Gladys Quesada, with the details. teleSUR

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00:00Let's now go back on topic on the Venezuelan elections that are being held on Sunday about

00:06the judges' office.

00:07We have live from Venezuela our correspondent Gladys Quezada to inform us of everything

00:12that has happened just hours away from the election day ending.

00:16Hello, Gladys, welcome.

00:19Hi, Luis, hi to our audience, and yes, precisely, we are half day in this voting day in the

00:29election of the peace justices.

00:31And as you were referring, we have been touring the coastal state of La Guaira, which has

00:36the main beaches of Venezuela, one of the most known worldwide.

00:42And now we are in the college or in the school that serves as a voting center called Y Camacuto,

00:49which is an indigenous name here in Venezuela.

00:54So now we are here, we are in a different location, but you know the ambience, the

00:58atmosphere is the same, because people are still coming to vote, to choose the justices

01:05and the peace mediators they are trying to call and to elect today.

01:10As the authorities of this electoral center told me, as of 2 p.m. almost half of the population,

01:19the neighbors had come here to cast their vote, and so far, you know, they are coming

01:26in calm, in peace with their families, and as you can see, they are forming long lines

01:31to come and cast their vote.

01:33Also, I have to say that this is the voting center for 19 communal centers or councils,

01:41which are so many of the ways of gathering the people around the commons.

01:47And they are choosing among 39 candidates, and they will elect three justices, three

01:54peace justices, and of course, as we have been explaining, three other substitutes.

02:00The purpose of this not only is to enhance the communal state and the ways the communal

02:05state enhances also the popular will and the popular power, it's also to create mechanisms

02:11for autonomy, so the people can solve their issues, solve their problems in their own

02:16communities, and also, with the election of three justices, they ensure that there is

02:21imparity and there is no partial opinion and decision regarding the conflicts or the issues

02:27of the community.

02:28And that's to say, because there will be one principal voice, one main voice, and two alternate

02:34voices, and the final decision has to be taken among the three, but, you know, there is a

02:39main decision-taker justice among them.

02:43So people are coming in here, and I have to say, the peace justice is a figure that

02:47is created for the community to have a support, a legal support, and not having to take this

02:55to every legal instance.

02:57And in any case, the other opinion that they have is that a legal figure, maybe a lawyer,

03:03maybe a tribunal, maybe a justice, and in its concept, they have to require two laws

03:11and two circumstances that are not close to the people, and they don't have the understanding

03:17of how the people live in their communities.

03:20But having peace justices in their own territories ensures that those taking the decisions, those

03:26taking not sentences, but final guidelines, those people, they know the people that live

03:33in here, they know the circumstances, they know the traditions, the history, the core

03:38of these communities, and they know also how to solve better the problems, because of communications,

03:44because of known hows, because of traditions, and because of way to do that everyone has

03:50in their municipalities, in their communes, in their neighborhoods.

03:53So this is a way to give more power to the people, more democracy, and more autonomy

03:58to the micro-governments that are formed by these communal councils.

04:02So so far, as I was saying, we are still in La Guaira, the afternoon is coming in.

04:08I think there is maybe a menace of rain, but we are going to be here no matter what, because

04:14this is a historical day that also serves as a homage to the 25th anniversary of the

04:20Bolivarian constitution that was enacted back in 1999 by then president, the late commander

04:28of the Bolivarian revolution, Rafael Chavez Frías.

04:32So it's a paramount day, yesterday this country saw the 24th ALBA summit, and today they are

04:38holding these elections of the peace justices, and also commemorating one of the main goals,

04:44the main achievements of the Bolivarian revolution, and that is big, big news, and big time for

04:50the Venezuelans.

04:51So so far, December is promising more democracy, more power to the people, and more celebrations

04:58for Venezuelans.

04:59Now Luis, this is the information, I'm giving the signal back to you.

Venezuela | First election of community peace justices underway

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