[El Universal] "I will not change a comma in the constitutional reform. This proposal is alive, it is not dead (...) I will seek a way, which will certainly be slower, to implement the project," said Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in the early hours of December 3, 2007, after his intended constitutional reform was rejected in a referendum. Three years later, the Venezuelan president met his goal of promoting a socialist production model, which was consolidated thanks to the legal texts passed by the National Assembly and which will be strengthened with the enabling law. In the proposed constitutional reform, the government intended to set up a socialist system by changing the territorial structure through the creation of communes and functional districts. New types of ownership would be implemented in those areas. The reform encouraged social ownership, and private property was maintained, yet minimized.
Although the system was rejected on December 2, 2007, the Venezuelan government kept on trying to reach its goals. Through the enabling law that was adopted in 2007-2008, it approved several laws that promote the creation of socialist production units and increase the State's participation in the production of food. The Economic and Social Development Plan provides that the strategic sectors should be under the control of the State.
In July 2008, when the special decree powers came to an end, the government delegated to the National Assembly the drafting of new laws to strengthen the socialist model.
In 2010, in order to deal with the emergency situation derived from heavy rains, President Chavez requested a new enabling law. The rules to be drafted will serve to support the socialist model.
On Sunday, January 2, the Venezuelan head of state in his column Chavez's Lines said that the adoption of the "enabling law opens a path to good living, to the good living that we all deserve. We will strengthen and deepen revolutionary laws to reverse the structural asymmetries and social imbalances that are part of capitalism."