Published at: 31/07/2024 09:00 PM

(LATEST NEWS, JULY 26, 1999)

• On July 25, 1999, elections were held for the election of 131 members of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), with the responsibility of drafting the text of a new Magna Carta with the purpose of refounding the republic.
• Commander Hugo Chávez's Patriotic Pole wiped out a total of 121 constituents elected in favor of a Bolivarian Project, which assumed sufficient powers to draft a model constitution that was later submitted to popular approval.
• Before July 30, all 131 constituents were sworn in. As long as there was no new constitution, the former Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) fulfilled the role of ensuring the application of the one still in force from 1961.
• For this purpose, President Chávez submitted to the ANC a draft of the Bolivarian Constitution, which was debated and modified until its final approval through an approval referendum held on December 15, 1999.

The Context:

• The drafting of a new constitutional text, in line with the thinking of Simón Bolívar and adapted to the new times, was a work matured over many years by Hugo Chávez, which was discussed and prepared at the Yare Penitentiary Center, together with soldiers and patriotic lawyers of the 4F.
• Rafael Caldera had created a State Commission for Constitutional Reform whose urgency failed to specify even a draft or proposal for a popular referendum.
• As a historic gesture of his commitment to the People, Commander Chávez, once elected to the ANC, put his position to order.
• This was a master move, checkmate to the moribund Constitution of 1961, the necessary step to consolidate the will of the people in the sovereign decision to give themselves a new fundamental charter. From there derived its supra-constitutional nature.

Mazo News Team