Citizen Power, the Republican Moral Council, and the National Fiscal Control System in Venezuela: effective constitutional mechanisms in the fight against corruption?

Abstract

This paper analyzes, from a constitutional perspective, whether the Citizen Power, the Republican Moral Council, and the National Fiscal Control System constitute truly effective mechanisms in the fight against corruption in Venezuela. To this end, it draws on the regulatory framework established in the 1999 Constitution, but also incorporates a critical approach based on the study of emblematic cases of Venezuelan corruption, such as the PDVSA-Cripto scandal and the CLAPs. The study is structured in five sections, which address the theoretical and conceptual framework on corruption and constitutional control, the analysis of Citizen Power as an institution, the functioning of the Republican Moral Council, the scope of the National Fiscal Control System, and finally a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of this institutional framework as a response to the phenomenon of corruption. It concludes that, despite their formal enshrinement in the constitutional text, the mechanisms created in the 1999 Constitution have been progressively weakened in their independence, politicized in their functioning, and neutralized in their sanctioning capacity, which prevents them from fully fulfilling their role as guarantors of public ethics and good governance.