January 10, 2019
The president of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), Maikel Moreno, swore in the constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on Thursday.
“I swear to comply with all the postulates of the Constitution, to try to defend the Independence and integrity of the Homeland,” Maduro said.
“I have complied with the Constitution. Here I am then, from today I assume the Presidency of the Republic for the second term by order of the people,” he said after being sworn in.
Once the Head of State was sworn in, the Presidential Band and the Sarcophagus Key Collar containing the mortal remains of Liberator Simón Bolívar were handed over followed by the reading of the oath of presidency and the official signing of the occasion.
More than 50 international delegations attended this ceremony, held at the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in Caracas.
The new presidential term as Head of State is the result of the popular will expressed in the election of last May 20, 2018, in which 9,389,056 voters participated.
A total of 5,823,728 Venezuelans, equivalent to 67.8% of the votes cast secured the victory to the re election President Maduro.
In view of the contemptuous nature of the National Assembly (NA), the Head of State is sworn in before the Supreme Court of Justice in compliance with Article 231 of the Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela.
The article states that “the elected candidate shall take office as President of the Republic on January 10 of the first year of his or her constitutional term. If for any reason the President of the Republic cannot take office in front of the National Assembly, he or she shall do so before the Supreme Court of Justice.
The president mentioned in his speech the media campaign that has been woven against Venezuela and recalled that “for at least twenty years we have been subjected to a campaign of manipulation.”
“We in Venezuela have defended ourselves from the media lies, politics, ambushes (…) Venezuela is a profoundly democratic country, we could say that democracy was refounded in the country 20 years ago with the Constitution and the Constituent,” he stressed.
Venezuela maintains a solid democracy
He also reiterated that in the nation there is a solid, profound, popular and revolutionary democracy of the working class, of the humble, of the workers, of the people, “not a democracy of the elite or of tycoons.”
“Venezuela is a democracy that is not only solid in electoral terms, it is a democracy under construction for a socialist, communal and revolutionary vision (…) It has a people that participates permanently in the social, economic and political processes of its communities,” he added.
Defence of freedom and independence
Maduro went on to reaffirm the call of the Bolivarian Revolution to the peoples of the world to retake their flags in defense of freedom and independence against the pretensions of the hegemonic powers that want to impose imperialist ideology.
“The world is bigger than the American empire and its satellite governments, there is a world beyond; here we are a testimony to that. It is no longer the hegemonic and unipolar world, and Venezuela opens its arms to that world of respect, cooperation and brotherhood,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of continuing to strengthen the integration blocs, such as the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) and Petrocaribe “which are seriously threatened because they want to impose once again the intolerant, imperialist, interventionist ideology that characterized the twentieth century of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The President envisions a new period for which he has committed himself to “promote the changes needed in Venezuela, to defend the right to peace and respect for the Constitution”.
Nicolás Maduro was elected president on April 14, 2013 after the death of President Hugo Chávez. On May 20 of last year he was re-elected with 67.7 percent of the votes.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation North America bureau