[3][4] Following this, Chávez called for an election to take place on 25 July 1999, in which the members of the constitutional assembly would be voted into power"[5] Critics feared it was the final step to establishing a one-man dictatorship.

Allan Brewer-Carías [es], a Venezuelan legal scholar and elected member of this assembly, explains that the constitution-making body was an instrument for the gradual dismantling of democratic institutions and values.

On 12 August 1999, the new constitutional assembly voted to give themselves the power to abolish government institutions and to dismiss officials who were perceived as being corrupt or operating only in their own interests.

[12] Soto believes that the ANC enabled Chávez to "design a genius political strategy to take over all the spaces in the Venezuelan State.

Among the main ones were the inclusion of the term "Bolivarian" in the official name of Venezuela, the suppression of the voting "second round" or ballot, and the restriction of the taxing powers of the states.

Taking advantage of a parliamentary recess, the pro-government constituent majority occupied the Federal Legislative Palace, suspended the sessions of the Congress, reduced its commissions to a minimum and created a delegated commission made up of 23 congressmen who could legislate, but always subject to the veto of the Constituent Assembly in important matters.

[16] On 27 August, opposition congressmen tried to enter the Congress but were repelled by Chavista sympathizers, who injured thirty of the first ones when they tried to jump over the fence surrounding the building.

[17] At the time, public opinion interpreted the congressional protests as vain attempts by the discredited traditional political class to stop the changes.

[8] It also included increased protections for indigenous peoples and women, and established the rights of the public to education, housing, healthcare and food.