A/HRC/19/2 (c) The summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/12/VEN/3). 640. At its 40th meeting, on 15 March 2012, the Human Rights Council considered and adopted the outcome of the review of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (see section C below). 641. The outcome of the review of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela comprises the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/19/12), the views of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela concerning the recommendations and/or conclusions, and its voluntary commitments and replies presented before the adoption of the outcome by the plenary to questions or issues that were not sufficiently addressed during the interactive dialogue in the Working Group (see also A/HRC/19/12/Add.1). 1. Views expressed by the State under review on the recommendations and/or conclusions, its voluntary commitments and the outcome 642. The delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela recalled the significant impact that its first review had had at the national level, as evidenced by the participation in the preparation of the universal periodic review of thousands of citizens, hundreds of social organizations and an array of public institutions from the five branches of Government. 643. The completion of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s first review entailed the opening of a new cycle which, for a society committed to social justice, enhancing democracy and the comprehensive realization of human rights, was considered a possibility to further develop the political and institutional mechanisms provided for in the Constitution to ensure the universal enjoyment of human rights. 644. The universal periodic review of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in particular the interactive dialogue in October 2011, was an opportunity to highlight the revolution that the Venezuelan society had had to carry out in order to become a true, tangible, stable and lasting democracy; this, in spite of being regularly at the centre of international geopolitical events in recent years, especially since the outbreak of the foolish interventionist surge called the “war on terror” that had been replaced, on behalf of human rights, by the latest military marketing product called the “responsibility to protect”. 645. The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, public authorities, social and grass-roots organizations and the people had not squandered one second over the past 13 years in developing its agenda of political, economic, social and cultural democratization, notwithstanding the immense external pressures on it. The Venezuelan people had realized that, perhaps, this was the price to pay to build a true democracy, to the extent that it contradicted the interests of transnational capital. 646. As the Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and the Minister for Foreign Affairs had stated during the review, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had passed in this period from an authoritarian and oligarchic State to a democratic and popular one, the transformation of which, still ongoing, was accelerating and getting deeper over time. 647. Only under a Government of this nature, under a social rule of law and justice as established by the Constitution, had it been possible to achieve such impressive progress in the implementation of human rights, as shown in the report of the Working Group. The delegation reiterated that the maxim of Simon Bolivar, “Justice is the queen of republican virtues, and equality and freedom are supported by it”, had guided the actions of the Government and its national human rights strategy. 648. By accepting the vast majority of recommendations made during the interactive dialogue (80 per cent of which were already being implemented), and by making numerous voluntary commitments, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had made significant 230 GE.13-14768