00:04Hello, join us. Acting President of Venezuela, Delci Rodriguez is addressing the nation. Let's
00:09listen. A spiritual transformation, a democratic transformation, institutional one, unverifiable,
00:18that will take us to a true rebirth. But a nation is valuable for what it fulfills,
00:26not for what it promises. So I'm coming here to show you what we have done. Before the United
00:34Nations General Assembly, I said that Venezuela has reburned. For many years, we have been divided
00:41in trenches with politics and economy as battlefield. And this year, a double earthquake
00:48moved, dissemined the foundations of the homeland and showed us the path of union and resilience
00:54as a people. Also, I said, we have relationships with all nations of the world on the basis
01:03of respect and equality, thinking in the national interest to create employment and improve social
01:11services, including energy system that is beating us on our daily lives. But the decisions of
01:17these transformations are taken here, they are signed here, and they are announced here
01:23first before you. The horizon, the political horizon of Venezuela, is not measured with a
01:30data, a date on the calendar, but from a sequence of objectives that we must to achieve in a framework
01:37of true coexistence and peace. Judicial reform guarantees of real conditions of fair participation for
01:47all of the political forces of the country and elections that also be a solution and not a generator
01:54of conflicts. From those actions, I want to speak to you today. I'm going to say first what we have
02:04done
02:05and what remains to be done. It is more honest to recognise the half way than celebrating a goal that
02:15remains
02:15to be achieved. In January, we underwent a path of reconciliation for the recovery of trust in institutions.
02:25I announced an amnesty law to heal the wounds caused for years of confrontation among brothers.
02:32Today is underway a national consultation for the reform of penal justice. A consultation, a referendum that seeks
02:42to listen to everyone, to build a fairer and humane, transparent and impartial justice that lives
02:50behind corruption, the delays and processes and the criminalisation of poverty. Recently, we agreed with
02:58the European Union technical assistance to move forward in that direction. Also, we asked the collaboration
03:05of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations. In February, the National Assembly approved
03:15unanimously the amnesty law that I proposed to the country. To date, almost 9,000 people have been benefited
03:24with this initiative, putting an end to processes derived from confrontation with which we were subjected to.
03:33Over 1,000 people have been released after the application of this law and the revision of other cases
03:41that were not included in this law. In September, I said something that it is not easy to say from
03:47this responsibility,
03:48that law against hatred was applied in an abusive way. I asked for it to be reformed, to eliminate sanctions,
03:57penal sanctions that were included in this document, strengthening its character of educative character.
04:05Last week, the National Assembly presented the reform and the Supreme Tribunal declared the constitutionality
04:10of this initiative. And also, the National Assembly, I ask you to move forward a process, inclusive process
04:18of consultations among all of the sectors involved, to give a wider debate on this proposal.
04:25Once propagated, the law, the Supreme Justice and the justice system must review the cases of persons
04:33who were criminalised based on this document. It is not the end of the road. We will keep producing measures
04:41that point in this direction. I invite independent organisations to verify each and every one of these steps
04:48in total freedom and transparency. The constitution is the framework for the behaviour of everyone.
04:58Violence is not the way to solve problems that arise in a society. Every one of us have the right
05:07to think differently
05:08without fear, to instruct the police forces that no one be detained without a judicial warrant,
05:17unless cases of flagrant violations of crimes. The responsible exercise of the policy is
05:27the right, and the gates are wide open. The pacific protest is a constitutional right, and the exercise
05:35of that right must be accompanied of respect to the physical integrity and moral integrity of our
05:41security officials. The immense majority of Venezuelans are convinced that the solution to our problems
05:50only can be built through dialogue, coexistence and encounter among us. So that is why, at the beginning of the
06:00year,
06:00I invited representatives of several sectors of society to join the programme of peaceful coexistence and peace,
06:08and from there to build consensus surrounding the top issues of the daily lives. The gates of this programme remain
06:17open for everyone.
06:18In October, in Caracas, it was held the third round of the political dialogue table among representatives
06:26of the National Assembly of 2015 and the national government. The agenda is centred in political guarantees for all of
06:35the participants
06:35in the upcoming electoral processes, in the upcoming electoral processes, in the reform of the Tribunal Office,
06:43and in the recovery of the attention of the socioeconomic recovery after the earthquake. It is not a dialogue for
06:52the picture.
06:52There are strong topics and they are not going to be solved in one day. The political actors also have
06:59a space for dialogue
07:01to boost a productive development and to keep building the economic agenda instructive as well the non-necessary actives of
07:15the state
07:16that can be offered to the private sector or returned to the main property. The private property is a right
07:26that is guaranteed by a constitution.
07:28Likewise, we have approved a law for the updating of paper works, including the process of simplification, modernisation and digitalisation
07:39of the SENIAD.
07:40This economic dialogue has thrown as well the subscription of 61 contracts in hydrocarbons with national investment investors and international
07:53as well
07:54under the parameters of the hydrocarbons law and also we are processing 44 more agreements. Likewise, are underway important negotiations
08:03in mining, gold, aluminum and coal.
08:07I want to stop here in a space of dialogue that is even more vital, led to social justice of
08:15our working people and is underway as well, a dialogue table for working consensuses with the participation of key central
08:25unions of the nation and the national government.
08:29In that sense, I want to announce that in 2027 we are expected to increase the wages of the working
08:38class in four different moments and in no case it could be lesser than the economic development of every trimester
08:46that precedes.
08:50And the development of society requires that every voices are heard and that information runs free with veracity and objectiveness.
09:05That is why we are opening access to websites that were subjected to administrative measures as the result of the
09:13confrontation that we left.
09:15I ask communicators of the country to be responsible and to respect the rights of citizens.
09:22Likewise, I ask media, national and international ones that do not extigmatize the image of Venezuela nor its national identity.
09:34When I said in the United Nations that the legality was the path, it was not a simple or mere
09:40phrase, it was a method.
09:41Venezuela is not an empty land. We are going to apply our law and our constitution.
09:49This process will lead us to the confirmation of an electoral power accepted by everyone.
09:56It will lead us to guarantee the rights of participation and the guarantees of democracy internally of the political parties.
10:05Those who are outside power may ask these reforms that we have been promoting and they have the right to
10:13ask them.
10:14But signing a reform, moving an institution, placing on the same table those who over years they refuse to speak
10:22to us.
10:23All of this can be done by those who really know the interiorities of this country.
10:31I've been an executive president and today I'm an acting president.
10:35I know what I'm speaking about, the transformation of this magnitude.
10:39If it is not led by someone with experience and real capacity to exercise them, it is going to be
10:46left in a paper.
10:47And Venezuela has had many papers.
10:50I came from the system that we are transforming and changing. I'm not hiding this.
10:55This path, I'm turning it into a power to boost the changes that Venezuela needs.
11:02And the measure of that are not my words, but concrete actions and verifiable ones.
11:07I confess that the decisions that we have taken and the ones that we must take are not easy.
11:17For some this is giving too much and for others it's moving forward too less.
11:25And in those instances we are governing and we have chosen a path that with a strong step is going
11:32to take us to a safe dog.
11:34Many people question about the electoral process.
11:38I said this, we will have elections.
11:41All of those that mandate our constitution organized by a renovated electoral authorities and with the world as a witness.
11:49And I repeat, the election must not be a problem.
11:52Not also putting ourselves backward at moments of confrontation that no one wants.
11:59I know that many of you are listening to this and think in other concerns.
12:04The electric system, the wages, healthcare.
12:07You know, you are right.
12:10It is less valuable a country that with institutions are not translated in a concrete improvement in the quality of
12:20life of Venezuelans.
12:21To the working people who have requested better wages, they have the right to claim them.
12:29And I listen to you and the families who are still building their homes after the June 24th earthquake.
12:36The reconstruction is not stopping.
12:37And every month I will show you what we have done.
12:42That your son or children can return to the country.
12:47That we have no more blackouts.
12:49That is the rebirth.
12:50I am not saying that this has arrived.
12:53I am saying that we are walking towards that path.
12:56Those who think differently from me and my government, this transformation is also for you.
13:02I don't ask you to change your opinion and I ask you to judge on the facts and come to
13:08the table with the same rules, equal rules for everyone.
13:13To those who are accompanying us, nothing that has been deconstructed is lost.
13:18What functions we protected and what is wrong we change it.
13:24The sovereignty is not to be discussed.
13:29We decide this in Venezuela.
13:31To the youth of Venezuela it is worth it to believe again on Venezuela.
13:37These reforms that when you have the chance to think about the path of Venezuela, you take results, not the
13:45breeze.
13:46The return to the country will always be voluntarily.
13:51Those who decide to come back to Venezuela, you'll find a country that is going to receive you with opportunities
13:58of work.
13:59We are building the country with which it is worth returning.
14:04Venezuelans, I ask you to measure me by the fact, less confrontation, more peace.
14:13May God keep blessing this homeland.
14:15May God also always accompany us.
14:19Big hug for everyone.
14:22We were at this hour listening to statements from Acting President Delci Rodriguez in Venezuela.
14:28She was addressing the nation.
14:30She was offering a balance of what her administration has done so far.
14:35And also the path that Venezuela is committed to keep walking through.
14:41And that is a path of reconciliation.
14:43A path as well of rebuilding the nation from the foundations that offer the institutions of the country.
14:51Working as well in the path toward an election that is not just the mere solution for the problems facing
14:59Venezuelans at this hour.
15:01She said we are going to work on reforms that are going to guarantee democracy in the nation.
15:06We are going to work as well on providing better wages for the working class.
15:11One of the main concerns of Venezuelans.
15:13We are going as well to keep working for decreasing the amount of blackouts that the nation is suffering because
15:22of the energy crisis facing the country.
15:24More specifically after the June 24th earthquakes.
15:27And also she spoke to the diaspora, to the youth.
15:30Those Venezuelans who live abroad, who also she invited to return to the country in a voluntary way.
15:37But also with the certainty that they are going to have new and better opportunities.
15:43So this is all for the moment.
15:44Stay tuned with Telesur English for more on this matter.
15:48Thank you very much.
