Communities covered by the deployment
Teams in Apure are serving Guamote, La Gloria, El Yagual and Achaguas in the municipality of Achaguas. In Anzoátegui, the operation is focused on Pueblo Viejo, a community in the municipality of Píritu.
The Sectoral Vice Presidency of Social and Territorial Socialism announced the deployment, saying it provides identity card issuance, civil registry services and assistance with matters related to the National Electoral Council (CNE). The operation is intended to make identification and registration services more accessible to Indigenous communities.
Saime, formally the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Foreigners, operates under the Ministry of Popular Power for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace.
Program origins and the previous cycle
Saime's official program page traces the Ruta Indígena Guaicaipuro to a 2009 decree by then-President Hugo Chávez. It was established through Misión Identidad to guarantee identity documents for Indigenous peoples. According to Saime, Misión Identidad is a social inclusion policy Chávez launched in 2003.
In a November 14, 2025, statement, Saime reported that an earlier Indigenous Route cycle had ended after issuing 15,511 identity documents in native communities. That cycle began with a phase covering Zulia, Bolívar and Guayana Esequiba, followed by a second phase in Apure, Monagas, Anzoátegui and Delta Amacuro.
Saime said it conducted that cycle jointly with the Ministry of Popular Power for Indigenous Peoples (Minpi) and the CNE. More than 50 officials from the three agencies worked together on the operation.
Other identification operations in 2026
A separate nationwide campaign, "Saime Llega a Cada Rincón de la Patria 2026," ran from February 2 through March 16, 2026. Saime reported issuing identity cards to 183,356 citizens during the campaign, which deployed more than 100 staff members and completed more than 33,000 data verifications.
Apure also hosted a separate Indigenous Route operation that ended on August 15, 2026, in La Macanilla, in the municipality of Pedro Camejo. Minpi reported serving 45 Indigenous communities across the Cunaviche and Codazzi parishes, with more than 1,450 Jivi and Pumé people obtaining identity documents. The operation provided transportation by river and land, as well as food.
