Constituents Hear from Venezuelans in Open Debate on Anti-Hate Crime Law

Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly is holding its first open debate in Caracas to discuss the proposed Law against Hate and Intolerance, which will prosecute hate crimes in the country.

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Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly to Debate Law Against Hate

Continuing its promise of transparency, the ANC moved its discussion outdoors, convening its session at the Ezequiel Zamora/El Calvario Park with the purpose of making their meeting easily accessible to the public.

The 545 ANC members and civilian participants will debate the incorporation of the new legislation which targets crimes committed based on one’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and/or political affiliation.

Under the proposed anti-hate crime law, perpetrators of “hate and intolerance” could face prison sentences of up to 25 years. Officials who have participated directly or indirectly in hate crimes will also be punished. The draft law includes aggressions transpiring in public, private and across social media platforms.

#AHORA @Drodriguez Come with @jorgerpsuv in the country, Las Quintas de Barlovento in Cota 905 carrying message for the peace of Constituent

“The Constituent Assembly is going to put justice in order, for the state, for the economy and it will be my fundamental answer for us to finish 2017 on a good note, one of general recuperation for society, for the country, for peace, that is what's most important,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stated in a televised interview last week.

“The dreams we have are dreams of patriotism that move a collective country,” the president said, adding that after seeing how much was accomplished by Chavez under his administration, he believed that "the future of the country rested in the hands of the people, moving together as one."

The court was installed last Aug. 4 after the electoral process that took place on July 30, when more than eight million Venezuelans participated to choose from thousands of candidates to the members that now make up the ANC.

The objective of the National Constituent Assembly is to generate a more in depth dialogue with all the social sectors of the South American nation, to consolidate peace and to perfect the 1999 Constitution.