Decentralization and democracy in Venezuela, 1989-2021

The essay reviews the role of Decentralization (institutional and territorial redistri-bution of power) in the preservation of democracy and the fight against attempts to impose an autocratic model, Socialism of the 21st century, which advances from the rise of Hugo Chavez to the president. The two most important ways in which Decen- tralization operates are described, as part of the Constitutional structure, both in the government-opposition dynamic, and within the vertical and authoritarian structure, to defend their own spaces. Two examples of these ways of operating are analyzed and the way in which they have politically and institutionally preserved the essence of democracy, even during autocratic advance. It is concluded that these same forces, inside and outside the authoritarian tendencies, based on the power conferred by the popular vote and the exercise of their state and municipal leadership, will help defeat authoritarianism and recover the democracy.