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  • 6/3/2025
Elections for indigenous deputies and legislators were held this Sunday in Venezuela. The country's constitution guarantees that indigenous peoples may have political participation according to their customs and traditions. From the state of Zulia, our correspondent Cha Dafol has all the details. teleSUR
Transcript
00:00Elections for indigenous deputies and legislators were held this Sunday in Venezuela.
00:05The country's constitution guarantees that indigenous peoples may have political participation
00:10according to their customs and traditions.
00:12From the state of Zulia, our correspondent Shada Fall has all the details.
00:18A week after the legislative elections in Venezuela,
00:21the indigenous communities went to the polls again this Sunday
00:24to elect three more representatives to the National Assembly
00:27and to the councils of each state.
00:30This time, however, only delegates from each community,
00:33chosen according to the organizational tradition of the indigenous peoples, are voting.
00:42A schedule is established.
00:44A list of communities where there are indigenous populations.
00:47Indigenous populations with more than 50%.
00:49And in those communities, an assembly is held.
00:53And according to their traditions and customs,
00:55the members of the assembly elect one, two or three spokespersons
00:58according to the size of the community.
01:00According to the number, it is proportional.
01:05This democratic process begins long before election day
01:09and allows people to be permanently involved in political education.
01:13At the grassroots, people defend their rights and their identity
01:16and ensure that their languages are included in the debates.
01:19The assembly has been more than anything else a meeting,
01:31a meeting for our brothers, to guide, to explain to them,
01:35what are our rights and our duties as indigenous people,
01:37what is the potential that we must reach as indigenous people.
01:41And it has been fruitful, harmonious,
01:43it has been spontaneous for our indigenous people and it has been responsive for us.
01:47The state of Zulia has the largest indigenous population in the western region
01:54with five ethnic groups represented.
01:57In the capital, Maracaibo, two voting centers were set up
02:00where the Weyuu communities are the main voters.
02:04However, the delegates present consider that they have a responsibility
02:07to the ancestry of all peoples.
02:13I think that each one of us who are elected spokespersons carry in our roots,
02:17in our blood, that indigenous people
02:20and that strength that the indigenous people have,
02:23as well as all of us.
02:24Likewise, the role of the delegates does not end with the exercise of the vote.
02:33Like the elected deputies and legislators,
02:36they will be committed during their coming years
02:37to the demands of their peoples
02:39and to the protection of indigenous traditions.
02:45To be a spokesperson is to be the figurehead,
02:48to be the guide of this organized people,
02:50the guarantor of social stability, of justice, of social inclusion.
02:54That allows us to develop an education in technology
02:58without forgetting our traditions and cultures and our languages.
03:04In Maracaibo, the indigenous elections were held
03:07in an organized, harmonious and festive atmosphere,
03:10celebrating the cultural resistance of indigenous peoples.
03:14But the efficiency of the process that took place Sunday
03:16also reveals itself as an inspiring example
03:19in the search for a more participatory and territorial democracy,
03:23and especially in Venezuela
03:24for the construction of the communal state.
03:26For the construction of the communal state.
03:29Chadafol, from Maracaibo, the state of Zulia, Parate.

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