*Ña Placida commune seeks to keep promoting strategic projects through public consultations
*The First Public Consultation of 2024 improved the water supply issue for the rural commune
*A recycling project transforms waste while eliminating garbage dumps in the commune
*Commune neighbors provide effective responses to problems through collective action
*The First Public Consultation of 2024 improved the water supply issue for the rural commune
*A recycling project transforms waste while eliminating garbage dumps in the commune
*Commune neighbors provide effective responses to problems through collective action
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NewsTranscript
00:00Let's go now live to Caracas with our correspondent, Bernardo Santos, for all the details of what
00:04is happening this important voting day in Caracas.
00:07Hello, Helen.
00:08Welcome back.
00:09Hello, Luis.
00:10Once again, so exactly as you were saying, this public consultation is underway.
00:21That is the first one for this year, but the third one in total, as we were just mentioning,
00:27this is a process, a participative process, in which the people, as we can see right behind
00:32me, are heading to the polls, not to choose representatives, but to choose which projects
00:37for their communities, which of them are going to be financed first.
00:42Even though, as you were just mentioning as well, there's also the possibility, as the
00:46months develop, that the other projects are financed as well.
00:50We are talking about communal projects that the neighbors themselves gathered in assembly
00:56and are choosing to really decide which are the main topics to address first, to prioritize.
01:05The San Juan Parish in Western Caracas.
01:09This is the commune dream of Chavez.
01:12And let me tell you something about the commune as the neighbors are gathering right behind
01:16me to vote, and they continue to vote.
01:18They have been doing so since 8 a.m.
01:21The last consultation, one of the ones that were carried in 2024, the project that was
01:27voted was actually a proposal to recover a space that was unused and make it better so
01:38that a drugstore can continue and can begin to work there.
01:42This is one of the issues that the neighbors brought to the table, as this is a parish
01:48with a lot of elderly people among the population.
01:51And they were telling us that, of course, there are many drugstores also and state subsidized
01:58drugstores in the avenues nearby, but not so many close by to where we are just standing.
02:05So through this project that was voted last year, this space was recovered.
02:12And now the drugstore is about to begin.
02:15Neighbors are waiting just to make it functional, but it's fully recovered and the neighbors
02:22are waiting.
02:23So in just a couple of weeks, we will have a new drugstore financed by the commune chosen
02:29by the neighbors here in the San Juan parish.
02:32So that is just one of the examples to see what this public consultation is really about.
02:37And as we were just saying, also, we've been touring and visiting different neighborhoods,
02:43different communes and communal circuits, not only here in Caracas, but also outside.
02:48And actually, we've been to the state of Miranda and we visited the Ñaplacida commune with
02:55some very, very important and interesting projects.
02:58So let's see more of that material.
03:06In Quebrada de Cuba, located within the Valles del Tui region in the Miranda state of Venezuela,
03:12is the Ñaplacida rural commune, described by its inhabitants as the spearhead of popular
03:18organization in the region, as its residents have been working for years on collective
03:23solutions to improve the community's daily life.
03:27Like this, they arrived to the first public consultation of 2025 with the enthusiasm to
03:33continue promoting their strategic projects.
03:38We arrive here, as with all our previous consultations, with a lot of optimism, of
03:43hope, and above all, with a lot of determination to win in order to satisfy specific needs.
03:49One of the main issues faced in the area was the water supply.
03:53The implementation of the project resulted from the first public consultation of 2024
03:59has not only provided an efficient solution to this problem, but has also strengthened
04:03the unity of the community's neighbors.
04:08The self-management and self-government methods are so important to improve the quality of
04:12life of our inhabitants.
04:14The Ñaplacida commune had already been without potable water supply through pipes for many
04:18years.
04:20And we even managed to make three extra houses to benefit from this project.
04:27The elderly, children, women, men, all participated.
04:31What impacted me as coordinator the most, as well as my fellow community members, was
04:36the union, because this had not been achieved in any of the 30 communities of Cabrada de
04:41Cua that an entire community went out to execute a project.
04:46Ñaplacida, when a conflict is approached creatively, it can even become a benefit for
04:52the community.
04:53This is the idea behind another of the emblematic projects of this commune, which has found
04:59in recycling not only a way to eliminate garbage dumps, but also an engine for change in the
05:05future.
05:06We must make people see, from the youngest to the oldest, that garbage is not a problem,
05:14garbage is a means of production.
05:17Nowadays we are much more prepared in terms of waste sorting, which is the most important
05:21thing in recycling, and the benefits that each recycled product brings.
05:28Emily and I are the ones who drive the garbage trucks on the pickup route every day.
05:33It's not an easy feat, but it has been achieved here.
05:39From the provision of basic services to the promotion of culture as a means of transformation.
05:44Through collective action, the commune members of Cabrada de Cua have found a way to build
05:49effective responses on a daily basis, convinced that they are on the right path.
05:57Everything we propose here in the commune is being achieved, and it will go on like
06:01that, because we will not stop pursuing that goal.
06:05And this is the way, hand in hand with the people's power.
06:09Belén de los Santos, Denisse Arabi, Fortaleza Sur, Cabrada de Cua, Venezuela.
06:18Really inspiring all the work that is being carried out by the communities in Venezuela
06:22from all sectors and from different generations that we were seeing in that work, Belén.
06:26Is this what this is all about, like a day-to-day communities banding together to move forward
06:31their country and their economy and their way of life?
06:42Exactly.
06:43So as we were just seeing, it was a very inspiring experience.
06:47And this is just a little bit of what is happening here and a little bit of what we hear from
06:52in the different communities.
06:54So the example in Yaplacita was really inspiring.
06:57They're working, as we were saying, in recycling some objects that really go above and beyond
07:04the basic necessities, while they're still gathering solutions and thinking up strategies
07:10to tackle the most necessary topics, such as water access, for example.
07:15And that is what is happening here.
07:17And the most important thing, not only that the neighbors themselves are the ones that
07:21are bringing the proposals and addressing the issues, but also that it's the communes
07:26and the communes are the ones who are in charge of executing and drawing up the solutions
07:32and the problems that they are facing.
07:36So it's really a communal effort.
07:39So that is what is happening here.
07:40We will continue to be live with you, reporting from Venezuela.
07:44Thank you, Belén, for the updated information.
07:47We'll stay tuned in the upcoming news brief to have all the details from Venezuela in
07:51this important voting day.