EL UNIVERSAL

A group of university students was taken in National Guard trucks from Sociedad corner, downtown Caracas, to the headquarters of the National Assembly, where they met with a delegation of lawmakers.
 
University students delivered a petition for the Legislature to adjourn a referendum on the changes to the Venezuelan Constitution, scheduled for December 2 until next February.

Deputy Calixto Ortega stressed that "the important thing" is the message the university students are bringing to the Congress, and assured they would be listened.

Previously, student leader Stalin González said they would ask lawmakers to reschedule the referendum for February 3, 2008, rather than next December 2. In this way, he claimed, all Venezuelans will have more time to get information about the contents of all the changes being introduced to the Constitution.

In González's view, the constitutional reform is a subject matter that should be discussed by all Venezuelans, rather than a group of deputies.

He confirmed the university student movement is willing to debate with pro-government students the situation facing Venezuela and the constitutional reform.

Ricardo Sánchez, the general secretary of the UCV Federation of Students' Councils, said  they are asking for an opportunity to take the floor in the ongoing debate about the changes to the Constitution proposed by President Hugo Chávez.

"We want to debate with the (legislative) power. The legislative power, without any prior notice, has changed 25 articles of the Constitution. As Venezuelans, we want an explanation; we want to know why lawmakers are advocating participative democracy while reserving for themselves and only for themselves the right to address such a sensible issue."

Political organizations and civil society groups joined the university students' march on Tuesday.

Translated by Maryflor Suárez
msuarez@eluniversal.com