• INVITED by the National Assembly of People’s Power for an exchange of experiences, Dario Vivas, a deputy in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s National Assembly, shared his opinions on Cuba’s electoral process, calling it positive and transparent after participating in a nomination assembly for municipal delegates in Havana’s Playa municipality.

"The fact that we are in Cuba, witnessing this full participation by the Cuban people in electing their own leaders from the grassroots, is extremely interesting, and vindicates the significance of the role of the Cuban Revolution," stated Vivas, who represents the Fifth Republic Movement in his country’s government.

"It is on the basis of the Cuban experience and our own realities that we have begun a revolutionary process in Venezuela, with the leading role taken by a people resolved to redeem the concepts of sovereignty, freedom and equality, and to deepen true democracy, instead of copying the patterns that Yankee imperialism wishes to impose on us," Vivas affirmed.

"We are building a revolution in Venezuela to achieve social justice and equality for all, reestablishing, first of all, the ideas of the Liberator, Simón Bolívar, together with the thought of José Martí.

"It is precisely this year that we will begin a new election process in the country. With the aim of strengthening municipal powers, in July we will nominate and elect city council members, and in December we will elect the National Assembly."

Likewise, the Venezuelan deputy explained, a new president will be elected in that country, and he said he is sure that the "squalid ones" will once again be defeated.

With the ratification of Hugo Chávez Frías as president of Venezuela last August 15 and victories in the election of mayors, legislative councils and governors – winning 21 of 23 regions and 260 of 335 mayoral posts –, Venezuela’s revolutionary movement holds the majority in all regional councils, indicating great potential for victory in upcoming elections.

Commenting on the accusation by Chávez of US government plans to assassinate him, Vivas said, "in Venezuela we are preparing to defend the revolutionary process and the president. To destroy this revolution, they will have to take on a people that has been strengthened by unity and is ready to confront and give whatever is needed to preserve what has been won over the course of these years."

Vivas is charged with drafting a new legal text outlining municipal powers at a time when the law is being debated.

The Fifth Republic Movement’s representative was able to verify, through his direct participation in the nomination assembly, how 184 residents (voters) in that Havana voting district freely nominated those who would be their representatives in the People’s Power assemblies, in an exercise of true direct democracy.

In the same manner, he saw for himself that in Cuba, the right of all citizens to nominate and to be nominated, to elect and to be elected, is expressed in the Cuban constitution and in current election law. It is a right exercised by all from the time they reach the age of 16, regardless of sex, skin color, national origin or religion.