Andrés Bello Municipality (Mérida)

The Andrés Bello Municipality is one of the 23 municipalities of the Mérida state, in Venezuela. It is located in the north center of this Andean state and its capital is the town of La Azulita, it has 398 km² and a population according to the 2013 census of 16,000 inhabitants.

It has 24 villages, one of the most beautiful churches in the state and a great variety of natural resources, among other things, the municipality was named in honor of the Caracas writer, jurist and poet Andrés Bello.

History

According to Marco Vinicio Salas, the town was founded by the brothers Juan Nepomuceno, Francisco and Ramón Uzcátegui Escobar in 1866 in the so-called "Hoya de Molinillos" on land that had been donated by General Clemente Velazco Ibarra who participated in the Federal War. On March 25, 1865, about 15 families arrived with whom on February 22, 1866, the town was definitively founded with the name of La Azulita. The town of La Azulita is notable and 30 years after its foundation it was ready for promotion to Municipality; and on February 22, 1895, the Legislature of the State of Los Andes proceeded to elevate it to Zerpa Municipality. On December 7, 1966, the Legislative Assembly of Mérida elevated it to the category of District. For the centenary of La Azulita in 1996, by decree of the State Legislative Assembly, the then District was elevated to a Municipality with the name "Andrés Bello", whose capital would be La Azulita.

Parishes

The municipality only has one parish, but it does have 24 villages, which is the way in which this municipality is organized.

Features

• average annual temperature: 18 - 35 C°
• Altitude: 1.135 m. n. m.
• Annual average: 1700

Post Office

The municipality has an Ipostel office, in the Mayor's Office building.

Politics and government

La Azulita and Community Movements or Citizen Movements

The Andrés Bello municipality has been characterized by having strong Community Movements or Citizen Movements, which with the support of traditional political parties or outsiders have managed to be in the municipal government with large majorities along with a large popular support. Since 2000, La Azulita has been governed by Citizen or Community Movements.

Two movements stand out:

• THE UK Azulitense Community Movement (Aliados: MVR/PSUV/GPPSB) (Municipal Government 2000-2021):

Founded in the 1980s, and legalized before the Supreme Electoral Council to participate in the 1992 regional elections with Antonio Prieto "Coco" as a candidate for Mayor, they were widely defeated in this race, so they focused their forces on social, cultural and sports work, being in opposition to the municipal governments, putting into circulation a community newspaper and organizing the International Bike Tour of La Azulita. of Mountain "Antonio Prieto". It was not until 1998, when they joined the MVR, and being in the "super-elections" 2000 when together with the MVR and MAS they came to the municipal government with Ramón Lobo as Mayor and with a large majority in the Municipal Council. With Lobo re-elected in 2004, and the government passing through the constitutional impossibility of re-electing himself, his president of the Municipal Council and general director, Ramón "Pipa" Rodríguez (Also part of LA ESPUELA) in 2008, who would be re-elected in 2013 and 2017, and would try to be re-elected a third time in 2021. Maintaining LA ESPUELA as part of the Municipal Government for 21 years. Receiving a defeat in the 2021 Regional Elections, returning this movement to the opposition with a representative for Voto Lista in the Municipal Council.

• By Love A La Azulita: Citizen Movement (Aliados: Cambiemos/Alianza Democrática) (Municipal Government 2021-):

Citizen Movement that saw its emergence in 2020, as opposition to the Municipal Government, without any representation in the Municipal Chamber or support from traditional political parties. Its leader was always Dr. María Elena Villasmil de Kazantzoglou, a local rancher and businesswoman, with extensive interest in philanthropy, who, due to her social interest, gained the affection and support of the local inhabitants. "The Doctor" as they call it locally, began its electoral campaign long before even the traditional parties defined their candidates (even before the CNE officially announced the elections, and therefore, outside the regulatory times). Her work in conjunction with the Movement for the Love of La Azulita little by little was receiving support from the leaders of outsider parties and then from traditional parties in La Azulita. Villasmil focused on supporting students and teachers, with school routes to alleviate the transportation crisis, street lighting in certain neighborhoods and sectors, and the establishment of a glass of school milk. His speech of hope, religious and conservative (which clashes somewhat with the party that supports the Cambiemos Movimiento Ciudadano movement, with a quite progressive speech) reached the families of Azulejos, and thus managed to gather unrest and rejection of the Municipal Government's policies to turn it into a vote in favor of the Citizen Movement.

Por Amor A La Azulita was never registered with the National Electoral Council, since it received the support of the outsider political party in mid-2021 Cambiemos Movimiento Ciudadano, thanks to which they did not have to start a tedious and surely impossible process that would entail the registration of a Citizen Movement.

Por Amor A La Azulita triumphed in the 2021 Regional Elections, ending 21 consecutive years of municipal government at the hands of the La Espuela Community Movement, with Doctor María Elena Villasmil being the first female Mayor of the Andrés Bello Municipality and also obtaining an absolute majority in the Municipal Council, being able to generate a government and approve the ordinances and decrees that it requires to fully comply with its government plan.

Mayors

Municipal Council

Municipal Council Municipality Andrés Bello 2021-2025

Opposition: (Municipal Government) Democratic Alliance:5CMC Chavismo: (opposition) Grand Patriotic Pole:2PSUV

Period 1989 - 1992

Period 1992 - 1995

Period 1995 - 2000

Period 2000 - 2005

Period 2005 - 2013

Period 2013 - 2018:

Period 2018 - 2021

Period 2021 - 2025: