My greetings then to all the communities. This work has been the work of Venezuelan engineering because we have learned to live forward, to solve problems forward with innovation and creativity. There is no blockade that can stop Venezuela. No one will ever be able to block the immense will, the immense spirit of creation and the right to life that the people of Venezuela possess.
Our rights are a first in the 200-year history of republics. The first constitution that was debated and written with the people in deep dialogue of participatory democracy, something no one had ever done before. I've said it, Chávez did it. Why hadn't they done it before? Envious. Here is this Constitution which is the first to be submitted to a referendum for the people to approve or reject it. And what did the people do? 72% approved it in that historic referendum on December 15, 1999. It turned 27 years old exactly around this time. It was the girl, wasn't it? 26. They tried to kill her. A 2-year-old girl was grabbed and stabbed. And the girl defended herself as best she could. But immediately, when they saw her bleeding and about to die, the people from the neighborhoods, the ordinary people, and the patriotic military joined together. And they rescued her on April 13th and 14th.
My greetings to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, to the godfather general, General Hernández Lare, General Rómero Bolívar, General Aer, General Figuera Valdés, General Dilio Rodríguez. Bolivarian National Armed Forces, United Liberation Army of the 21st Century. Long live the armed forces, long live the homeland.
And the girl defended herself as best she could, godfather, but immediately when they saw her bleeding, the minister of transport, who was going to die, congratulated the people of the neighborhoods, the people standing tall, and the patriotic military, and they rescued her on April 13th and 14th. My greetings to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, to the general. Congratulations and applause to this young man Velázquez Araguayán, the dean of rain. He was my dean many years ago, and every time he served, it rained. Then I put the rain gauge on him because there was a huge drought everywhere. He arrived after 15 days on duty, it was raining. Say it there.
Ah, so all these works respond to the proven and demonstrated national effort that Venezuela is experiencing a stellar moment in its history. We are the power, we are the strength, and we are the people. Look, there's the video of the inauguration. Put it in full screen to view it. I was walking there, we were with the minister at the time, Jaiman el Trudy. We were coming, it looks dark. Look, put it there, okay, so I can say. Claudio Farías managed to spot him over there. Cable train, bus, this whole integrated transportation system. Look, I had the egalitarian voice, Chican this great geographical space that is the great Caracas, the so-called Greater Caracas, which managed to unite with the presence of our people this great space where there are more than 6 million inhabitants. On behalf of Commander President Hugo Chávez, we send greetings to those compatriots of the communal councils.
2:25 in the afternoon. We came with our colleague Elias Agua. There's Elias. Look. Prime Ministers, Minister García Tusén, Minister Almirta Carmen Meléndez, and Attorney Carmen Teresa were already involved. Carmen Teresa, colleagues from Caracas, their mayor, the Caracas metro union, lifelong colleagues, and he was fat, boy, truly amazed and enjoying himself. 25, here is Chávez. Chávez is here with us. Chávez is the metrocable, the cable train. Chávez is the great mission, he is the mission. Chávez is the kid. Chávez the woman. Chávez the man. We are all Chávez. Chávez is an awakened people with dignity. And that's why from here we say to the commander, commander, take care of yourself, get well and we will be waiting for you here. Kneeling, working, working, working and working every day.
It is continuity, it is coherence. One of the key elements is consistency in love, proven loyalty, proven in battle, without hesitation, because Bolívar said that July 3rd, Bolívar said when some were raising the debate of whether to declare independence or not. And Bolívar told those who said that we were not prepared to be independent, he told them that you say that we need to be calm, he said. 'Let's remain calm,' Bolívar said indignantly. 300 years of calm are not enough. To hesitate is to lose ourselves. Let us lay the foundation stone of South American freedom. To hesitate is to lose ourselves. And we say today, to doubt is to betray. To hesitate, to hesitate in defending our Venezuelan land is treason. Hesitating to defend our mineral wealth is treason. Hesitating to defend our sovereignty and our right to peace is treason. Hesitating to repudiate the criminal mafia of the Sayona who calls for the invasion of Venezuela and the theft of our wealth. To doubt is to betray. It is a time for loyalty, courage, patriotism, and the greatest national unity of all Venezuelans to defend our land, our wealth, our oil, our people, our present, and our right to the future.
So it's a heroic continuity. That fat guy you saw there. It weighed about 130 kg. Ah, and now this skinny guy is getting younger and more vibrant. Ah, Cilita, what do you think, Cilita? Look, Silita, well, as I was saying, we are doing what we want.
International law protects us, it fully and absolutely protects us. International law condemns as crimes and offenses, according to the 1958 agreement against piracy and subsequent international treaties of recent years, from 1982 onwards. It classifies the armed assault of a ship carrying any cargo as a serious crime that must be condemned. Those were centuries of piracy. The similarity between a pirate and a privateer is that both are criminals. Let's start with the simplest answer. A pirate and a privateer were criminals, and wherever they exist they are criminals. They commit serious crimes. They are thieves among others. They are highway robbers, they are bandits, they are criminals. Give him a license to operate, or don't. Now, how did pirates meet in the past? Pirates were sea raiders, just as highway robbers were highwaymen. For example, there was a road from Caracas to La Guaira, where carts passed in the 15th, 17th, and 18th centuries. And well, there were highwaymen who would come out and stop the carts and take their contents. Pirates are raiders of seas and oceans, especially seas. And the pirates were like a private company that organized themselves to raid, and if they saw a ship, as we say in Caracas, if they saw a ship going slowly, they would attack it. Or if they happened to pass by an island, a town, and saw it undefended, they would attack and plunder it. People around the world prepared themselves and defended themselves against piracy. The entire Caribbean was plagued by pirates for centuries, but then came the privateers. Corsairs were pirates with permission from an empire to attack ships at sea. That's why they gave him what they call a letter of marque. You've heard that word, haven't you? When someone is doing something wrong, who does this creature think it is? Do you think you have a license to do whatever you want? What's wrong with you, kid? You don't have a license to operate with impunity, you hear? They call him, well, it's a way of telling someone, isn't it? This guy is a bully, look, he went into the cellar and took some oranges and didn't turn off the light. Do you think you have a license to do whatever you want, son? Next time, you know, I'll slap you out of here, for example, right?
So, the British Empire was famous; it organized a naval fleet of privateers and gave them letters of marque and routes to plunder its rivals. Spain. The Spanish empire was a victim of English privateers when they were at odds. And that's not all, the Spanish empire also created its own privateer. The Wipus Cuana company because studying the Wipus Cuana company that was created by the Spanish empire around 1735 and functioned until the year 85 of that 17th century. The Gipuscuana company decreed a monopoly over all products created here in this region. So, if you were a coffee producer, Diogenes, you had to sell your quintals of coffee to the Wipucuana company for a pittance. No, I couldn't go out and sell it on the international market or anywhere else. So, five quintals of coffee were worth 10 morocotas. In the international market, the Cuipocuana company paid you a morocota. That's what they did with coffee, with cocoa, with cotton, with indigo for decades. Can you imagine the anger that the outrage over that injustice generated? Then the white Creoles, the Mantuanos, the Bolívars, the Palacios, the Blancos, the Pontes, the Ribas, who were the Mantuanos, invented it and began to trade directly with other places in the world. And what did the Wipcuana company do? It had a super-armed fleet of privateers with letters of marque issued by the empire from Madrid, and they would attack ships, steal coffee, cocoa, and cotton, just like they steal oil today, and they would take it away, steal it, sell it, and make a fortune in European markets.
This was the subject of debate for centuries, and it was after World War II, in 1958, that the first international treaty signed by all the governments of the world was approved. Therefore, it is the obligation of all governments worldwide to classify piracy as a serious crime on the high seas and punish it severely. So what they did with the private ship that was carrying the oil they had already paid for in Venezuela to trade in their markets is a serious crime in light of public international law and treaties that are binding on all states. We are abiding by our law, and I tell you, Venezuela will continue on its course. We will continue producing the 14 engines and all the products sold in Venezuela will continue to reach the international market because we are a free country and we will guarantee free trade for Venezuela, the Caribbean and all of South America with the favor of Almighty God always. Amen. All glory belongs to God, and God goes before us. And I also put the commander of commanders in charge, I put him at the front. He is our commander of commanders. I handed our homeland over to Venezuela. So our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the true owner of this homeland, He is the true commander of commanders, and He goes before us blessing, opening the way, and protecting our homeland. Let's walk together alongside Jesus of Nazareth. He did not come to be an accomplice of empires, injustice, or inequality. Our Lord Jesus Christ is with us and our people are a people of Christ the Redeemer. We are, and I deeply love the people of Christ because I am part of the people of Christ. I was raised in a Catholic home, but I have learned to deeply love and value the human qualities of evangelical churches, their pastors, apostles, and also the priests, my dear parish priests, whom I support, all of them from the Catholic Church, I love them very much too, as I was saying first, what was I saying? Help me, Pedro Infante. He looks for the parish priest. Don't look for the cardinal. Tell him the struggle is long, that the burden must be lightened, that Sunday mass with a free people is better. Tell him we'll have the meeting in the sacristy. Tell him that God does not reject, that he agrees with revolution. Tell him that God doesn't get angry, that he's happy with revolution.
That's not the DG I brought today, Alfred Nazaré, find out what happened to that song. Who are you going to ask? Praying is not enough. Yes. No, no, praying is not enough. Many things are needed to achieve peace. Praying is not enough. No, praying is not enough. Many things are needed to achieve peace. No, no, no vasar. Many things are needed to achieve peace. And they pray in good faith and they pray from the heart, but the pilot also prays when he gets on the plane to go and massacre the children of Vietnam, to go and bomb the children of Vietnam. No, praying is not enough. Many things are needed to achieve peace. Well, however you look at it, Ali Primera was the great prophet of this 20th-century revolution. Long live her song and her poetry. So we are in a stellar moment. I always give thanks to God. I tell you, in the face of the difficulties that arise or may arise, I always say, Holy God, oh Almighty God, I thank you for giving me this life and allowing me to be at the forefront to protect Venezuela, to protect our people and to always lead them to victory. Holy God, almighty God, open the paths of victory for me. I do that here, look, in my mind, in the morning, in the afternoon. The power of prayer is very great. I recommend that anyone who doesn't pray should learn to pray. Pope Francis told me, on the day he gave me this cross, Pope Francis gave me this cross on June 17, 2013. I carry it with me because I feel that Pope Francis is by my side, that he accompanies me, blesses me, and protects me. And he told me, 'This was the cross that represented his papacy.' And he told me, 'Many things, he always wrote to me, we talked quite a bit. He warned me many times about many things and saved my life with details. He saved my life. He said to me, 'Do you pray, Nicolás?' I said, 'Of course, always.' Ah, very good. Do you know a key to prayer? The Lord's Prayer is sacred,' he told me. 'But you can take the Lord's Prayer as a foundation, a pillar, and pray with your heart and let your words flow, and speak because God hears you.' Look, okay, from that day on I did it, and with the motto that my mother taught me when I was little, God will provide. God will provide. Look how God has given us everything we need, and today we are reopening this cable car system with our own effort, overcoming the blockade, reopening this Metrocable. Pope Francis, may God have him in his glory and may he always accompany us from wherever he is, the first Latin American Pope.
So we have to continue maturing our conscience, strengthening grassroots organization, strengthening deep, inclusive democracy. Convening, without sectarianism, without division, without any kind of negative sentiment, strengthening mutual trust in the daily joint struggle, strengthening the capacity to build projects through public consultations, and strengthening constitutional awareness. That is why we will very soon begin delivering, community council by community council, school by school, factory by factory, more than 2 million copies of this Constitution for you to embrace. And I read some articles; I don't know if you saw it at the very nice event I had yesterday. It was very dark, okay? And it was hard for me to read because it was so dark I could barely see. And our Constitution, whose preamble is a marvelous poem written by the eastern writer Gustavo Pereira, my dear colleague and fellow constituent, Article 1 is clear, definitive, wise, unique. And the first article of the Constitution to which we have sworn says, 'The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is irrevocably free and independent.' Irrevocably. No one on earth or in heaven can revoke it, and it bases its moral heritage and values on liberty, equality, justice, and peace. Internationally, in the doctrine of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator. The nation's inalienable rights are inalienable. Because there are people who, from there, now from abroad—all of them, because they've all left—Odoo López, Juan Guaidó, La Sayona, Julio Borge, pure demonic beings, want Venezuela to renounce its historical rights and for our homeland to become a colony. Because we have bad news for the Guaidó-supporting, Sayona-supporting far-right, because these are inalienable rights of the nation: independence, liberty, sovereignty, immunity, territorial integrity, and national self-determination. Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1999. A sworn mandate that we must continue to uphold and defend with the power of the nation. So let us keep before us the document that embodies all truths, all reasons, and with the reason and truth of Venezuela and our national power, let us continue to triumph on the path of peace. Peace, peace, peace with justice, with independence, with equality, and with fully applied sovereignty. Peace. The peace of the people, the peace of the free, not the Roman peace, not the American peace, not the peace of the colonies. Well, amen, always amen. Amen.
Well, it has been a tremendous undertaking. Now, when we put it into service, we'll give a little more detail. We must continue strengthening it. Today is December 18th. The day after tomorrow is December 24th. Oh, man, what a lot of parties there are! Look, impressive. Last night, I went for a drive around Caracas with Cilia. It was partying, partying, partying, resounding. Today the resounding Caracas begins. And just now I passed by some places quietly, because I drive around quietly, seeing Christmas parties at community councils, communes, workplaces, universities. So our people are exercising the most beautiful right they have, the right to be happy, to live in peace, and to enjoy their Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. United States. Merry Christmas. The people don't worry. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy as a clam and let others be happy. So let's do a pass as well. Let's go directly to another achievement of Venezuela. Venezuela had a great world award last week, a great international award, a great recognition. This was a true world recognition, and truly deserved, because the Venezuelan joropo was declared by UNESCO an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. And we go to the San Carlos Barracks, where Minister Ernesto Villegas, at a joropo celebration, is receiving the official UNESCO certificate directly, confirming that the joropo is now an intangible cultural heritage of all humanity. Go ahead, Ernesto.
It's a good time because Venezuelan culture, our country's culture, is, we could say, the driving force behind the solidification of national identity. Who isn't moved by a joropo trancado? Watching it being danced, or dancing it themselves? And that characterizes all Venezuelans, and culture—all our culture, all its expressions—becomes an engine of national identity, which is what I have called the spiritual, cultural, and identity-based power of Venezuela, which is part of the equation of national power. As long as a country—and I'll put it this way—as long as a country, but as long as Venezuela, our country, has more national power, the greater the guarantee it will have of a future of development, well-being, and peace. In this world, they don't respect cowards, the weak, the two-faced, or the traitors. Nobody, nobody respects cowards, the timid, the two-faced, the hypocrites, the gossips. To the envious, nobody in this world. That's how a salsa song begins. In this world there's one very bad thing. How bad it is. How bad it is. How bad it is. What thing? The tongue in this world. And the song catches on. Here we go. But don't fall behind, but don't get ahead either. In this world, respect is given to those who fight, to the brave, to the patriots, to those who stand with the people and play the whole game to defend their homeland. In this world, respect is given to those who fight, to those who advance, to those who are capable of defending their ideas and their rights in an unrenounceable and irrevocable way, as our Constitution mandates. So in this world, Bolivarian Venezuela, our beautiful Venezuela, has earned the respect that our word has today, that our country has today to defend its free passage towards a path of peoples who live together in peace. So it's an equation, I've been developing this, the perfect equation of Venezuela's national power. And that equation has several components. One is the spiritual, the Identity. What are we without identity? Nothing. What are we without self-esteem, without confidence in ourselves as a people, without culture, without our songs, our poetry, our music that distinguishes us? What are we without the drum of Barlovento, without the joropo, without the parranda, without the gaita? What are we? Ah, spiritual, identity-based, cultural power, social power. And who is the social power of the country? You. Millions of men and women building self-government, the new society, the new democracy from the ground up. What are we without a Constitution and consolidated public powers? And the economic power of 14 booming engines producing and maintaining a country now in a new situation, overcoming, as we have overcome and will continue to overcome, the economic war and the terrifying shortages they imposed on us years ago. How did we overcome it? With work, creativity, production, and by building a new economy of 14 engines. The economic power of a country, and here present in their olive-green uniforms, thousands of men and women, which is the military and police power of our country, our glorious Bolivarian National Armed Forces, the Bolivarian Militia in every corner of the territory, in the mountains, in the plains, in the seas, the Bolivarian National Police and the entire police system, the power of the nation's arms. So it's an equation that you complete, and when you reach the end, the resulting outcome is the national power of Venezuela, a guarantee of sovereignty, independence, peace, and maximum happiness for the country. So let's build. When you are going house to house, when you are calling an assembly, when you are addressing a problem like a burst pipe or the need to repair a school, when you are building popular power, you in your trenches are the power of the nation. Today, unlike the old oligarchic Venezuela, the power of the nation is not an elite of oligarchs, of surnames that decided, made, and unmade with the country's wealth. Today, the power of the nation is the mobilized, conscious people, full of values. So
Be aware. Today, the nation's power lies with the military, with their rifles, tanks, missiles, and airplanes, vigilant and watchful, protecting the land and sea that belong to Venezuela. And today, the nation's power is summed up in a single word, a single slogan, or rather, a single phrase. What is that phrase? The perfect popular, military, and police fusion. Therein lies the essence of the nation's power. And if we have just witnessed this marvel of the joropo dance, now we'll go so you can see the productive commune of the homeland there in the Uberito sector of Calabozo, not inside the town itself, producing rice, rice, rice on more than 4,000 hectares—a commune producing quality rice, the good kind. This is at the launch of the 2025-2026 communal rice plan. Let's give the floor to the Governor of Guárico, Donaldaire, and the Minister of Popular Power, Ángel Prado. Onward, Guárico!
Look, the man is on the right track. Look at this marvel. This is another country. This is Bolívar's original project. This is what I call the resurrection of Bolívar in the hands of Hugo Chávez, the great democratizer. 4,000 hectares for 220 productive communal councils, 4,488 families. We might think, Diogenes, you who are the mayor, who are walking with the people with your smile from neighborhood to neighborhood, a smiling mayor. Pedro, you who don't laugh at anyone, they strike a good balance. Pedro doesn't laugh. Me, well, I've been publicly saying for years, Pedro, learn, man. And I often see him at an event. He's at an event like this, he looks like Marque. Okay. You're from the same planet, you hear, the planet they teach you about. Planet of the unsmiling. That's you. He's at an event and I write to him, Pedro, smile. People are going to think you're angry, but he strikes a balance, huh? Well, not everyone can go around flashing their teeth. Look, we could take over some communes and look for some land, some 300, 400 hectares, so that the neighborhoods of Petares, La Dolorita, and this whole great Caucagüita region, by commune, can have land in the Tuy Valley in Guárico with good projects funded, with a good team, and going to produce food directly from the land of the Venezuelan plains, which will go directly to the neighborhoods in a special economic project, what do you think? A community economic development project. We're going to do it, right now. And I want to start with these six communes that are here. I want to start the food production project. We have to get everything. The land. Talk to Julio León Heredí right now. The land, see what crops can be produced, select the producers and make a link from here, from Dolorita, Caucagüita, Mariche, José Félix Rivas, Petares, south, north, east and west and direct. So, I want to start that project where the commune of the Caracas neighborhood has its land, produces and has its food. Imagine yourselves receiving rice, corn, taro, and cassava directly at your warehouses, just like I did with the old Guaira road. I promised him 200 cows, 50 have arrived and they have already given birth three times and are already producing milk. What's that? Still, still in the momentum. Look, I'm worse than you. Don't provoke me. Do you remember the song they released about Ramos Luna? Go on, you're not going to provoke me. You're not going to provoke me. Tick tock, tick tock. You're not going to provoke me. What is life? Ramos alúal. He will still be hiding behind the skirts of La Sayona because in the end he ended up hidden under the skirts of La Sayona. Sad end to a long political life. Well, let's not waste time on that. I want to start this productive economy project in the countryside from the neighborhoods of this large area of the Sucre municipality with the communes Revolución en Marcha, Rodilla en Tierra, Bicentenario, Producir Vencer and Ciudadamariche. Do you agree? Do it with the usual signal. To those who disagree, I declare the Ezequiel Zamora productive project approved for the neighborhoods of the Sucre municipality. That motivates me a lot. And I'll be in Calabozo soon, Ángel Comuna, in 120 days, in March. See you in Calabozo to harvest the first crop of that rice and prepare a good paella, exquisite and healthy. Furthermore, now we're going to Zulia, to Zulia. Look, godfather, everything we are doing, fellow general-in-chief, is why I always invite the high military command to the commune every Thursday, because they, our officers and our soldiers, are 24 hours a day vigilant for national peace, for national defense, and with great patriotism, courage, professional capacity, and good weapons systems, they are ready for Venezuela to triumph on the path of sovereignty and peace. And they are married in heart and soul to the people of Venezuela and particularly feel part of the popular power that has been born in our beloved and beautiful Venezuelan homeland. Godfather, give me a comment.
