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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
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href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14005">https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14005</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Interview with Angel Prado (Part I):
“The commune holds the solution to the crisis”</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Angel Prado and Ricardo
Vaz - August 17, 2018<br>
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<p><em>El Maizal commune is located in the middle of the
Venezuelan plains, between the Lara and Portuguesa
states. With a history of struggle and construction
of popular power, it is a flagship of the communal
movement in Venezuela. In this interview we talked
to Angel Prado, communal spokesman, about the
political project that El Maizal is pushing forward,
the questioned mayor’s elections of December, the
role of the commune in the current context, and how
the issue of the commune should enter into the new
constitution (1).</em></p>
<p><strong>With idea of moving forward with the commune
(2), there have been discussions about the “communal
city.” Can you explain what this is all about?</strong></p>
<p>With the political experience and strength we have in
this territory and with the work we have been doing,
El Maizal has found itself in a collective leadership
role for all this area of Simón Planas, and perhaps
also in the rest of Lara state. We have gotten a lot
of solidarity and many friends among social and
popular movements in Lara and throughout Venezuela. So
with all this experience, and knowing that this
process cannot be held back – it is growing day by day
with popular initiatives, proposals and participation
– we believe that it is time to stop thinking just
about El Maizal and move towards a bigger
organization, at a higher level, in order to build our
dream of socialism, as President Chávez used to say.</p>
<p>Far from being a utopia, I think it is something
achievable. Here in El Maizal there is a commune,
which is permanently under construction, but which has
been moving forward, and for us this progress makes
sense. That is why we have dedicated our lives to
this. We have the political clout to go to other
territories and call on people to organize in a
communal city, in a large organization that will
contribute to developing the plans and projects
addressing the needs of the people, but especially
with the people themselves building and defending such
projects. More than a discourse, we need to offer
tangible results so that people can see for themselves
that this makes sense.</p>
<p>The communal city project is not going to be easy.
The principal enemy is the right-wing, because the
communal city at some point will imply “communalizing”
the territory. That project involves a broader scope
and more power, in particular taking charge of means
of production: factories, companies, etc. So we will
be struggling for power in the face of forces that
already exist. The bourgeoisie, for economic reasons,
wants to put the brakes on Chavismo. Sadly, the
reformist sectors in our camp are also looking to rein
in on on the tendencies and political currents that
threaten the privileges that some politicians in our
government, or people close to them, have become
accustomed to.</p>
<p><strong>There is also a struggle inside Chavismo…</strong></p>
<p>I think there is some political exhaustion, worn out
politicians that have no initiative anymore. There are
many politicians that might be over the hill, perhaps
they believed that Chavismo was going to die with
Chávez, or that president Maduro was going to be
overthrown. Many have dedicated themselves in these
past years to accruing riches and privileges while
keeping popular participation at an arm’s length. But
at least here in Simón Planas they have another thing
coming, because here there is a political force that
will not be stopped and which does not depend on one
person. In my case, I simply take on the role of a
spokesperson, one that is accountable and who always
acts coherently accordingly to our people’s interests.
What’s more, while we are here talking, there are
people out there working, holding assemblies, having
meetings, organizing activities, voluntary work
projects, etc.</p>
<p>There is a very interesting dynamic which keeps the
spirit of the commune alive. The communal city will
bring together all the activity that has taken place
in the area in a broader sense, involving multiple
territories around here where the people relate in one
way or another to the political and communal movement
in Simón Planas.</p>
<p><strong>What is the current status of the Simón
Planas mayorship issue?</strong></p>
<p>When we discuss this issue, it is important to recall
the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/News/13546">context
in which it happened</a>. In 2017 we were facing a
very tough crisis: an economic, political, and (I
would also say) moral crisis, a crisis of values.
There was, and still is, an international aggression
against Venezuela, as if punishing us for having gone
through this very interesting revolutionary process
together with Chávez. But, despite being a very tough
year, 2017 was also a year of great achievements and
advances from the communal perspective, both in
political and electoral as well as productive terms.</p>
<p>When President Nicolas Maduro proposed the National
Constituent Assembly (ANC), we, as the organized
pueblo here in Simón Planas, took to the trenches,
participated in that election, and won with over 80%
of the vote. I had been charged with being the
territorial candidate to the ANC. Then came the
regional and municipal elections, in October and
December, respectively. In the municipal elections,
our community proposed that we participate in that
process, and the communal movement of Simón Planas
again assigned me the responsibility of being the
candidate for mayor.</p>
<p>Then a lot of things happened. Unfortunately, both
right-wing political forces and by forces within our
government harassed us. These are regrettable things,
that come from people that hold a great deal of power.
We were denied the chance to run on the ticket of the
PSUV’s (the governing party) and that of other parties
of the patriotic coalition, but we managed to do it
with the Patria Para Todos party (PPT). What followed
was a great victory for the communards. We really
routed the PSUV, handing them their first defeat in
this municipality, which is one of the more Chavista
and “PSUVista” municipalities of all Venezuela.</p>
<p><strong>What happened after the election?</strong></p>
<p>Despite winning in the midst of threats, blackmail
and pressure, our victory was not recognized (perhaps
that was to be expected). Our votes were assigned to
the PSUV candidate. We went through a whole legal
process with the electoral authorities – we filed an
appeal before the Supreme Court – but so far there has
been no response. Our position is that, if the
communards’ victory in Simón Planas is not going to be
recognized, at least the results should be voided and
new elections held. Everything we have done is legal,
so we hope for a resolution to this case.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there have been no pronouncements.
Instead, the issue has been ignored. Nevertheless, we
know that having the mayor’s office is not
indispensable for our project. We will not stop
producing, we will not stop organizing, we will not
cease to vote for the Revolution nor to support
president Maduro. We have always made this clear. We
have never wavered on our support for Nicolás Maduro,
because we believe that with Maduro in the presidency
we can continue to move forward and not towards
confrontation. Because of a municipality, or the
actions of a party, or because at one point the
government did not pay heed to us, we are not going to
lose sight of the strategic enemy. We remain
Chavistas.</p>
<p><strong>What role, in your opinion, can the commune
play in the current Venezuelan context?</strong></p>
<p>From my point of view, if the government looked more
closely at the communal issue, it would realize that
the commune holds the solution to the crisis we are
living through and could ideologically deepen the
Chavista project (the task of building socialism that
Chávez set for us).</p>
<p>The commune, with its dynamic of production and
participation, can also help free us from our
dependence on private capital and on government
patronage. So long as, the “cells” are built across
the country and we also work to develop people’s
political conscience, a new culture and new relations
between communities that prioritize the common good,
then we can make strides towards this model of society
that comandante Chávez proposed.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are big contradictions inside
the state, between the state and the popular social
movements, and between the state and the commune.
Because the government is very powerful economically,
it has the capacity to make big decisions, and
sometimes with a single blow, it can put an end to
interesting experiences. In El Maizal we have had the
determination, the strength and the ability to
withstand the blows dealt to our organization, to our
experiment. There have been acts of sabotage, but we
have resisted.</p>
<p>Beyond resisting, we also need to go on the offensive
against the enemy before us, whether it is the
bourgeoisie, the oligarchy, or reformism. The
reformists aim to protect a system that sidelined a
class which for a long time accumulated riches to make
way for a new bureaucratic bourgeoisie that, despite
its revolutionary discourse, pays no heed to the
people’s cries. We are not willing to live under those
conditions, we are not willing to let Chavismo fall,
nor to let reformism do in Venezuela what perhaps took
place in Brazil or Argentina, where there have been
significant setbacks.</p>
<p><strong>Notes</strong></p>
<p>(1) In a forthcoming article, we will delve into the
productive activities of the El Maizal commune, as
well as its complex relationship with the state.</p>
<p>(2) The commune was proposed by Chávez as a
fundamental unit of popular power for the construction
of socialism. Bringing together communal councils and
other organizations, the idea of the commune is to
allow the community to wield power directly through
assemblies, gradually taking control of both the means
of production and the various instances of political
power. Chávez presented many of these ideas in his
landmark broadcast Aló Presidente Teórico #1.</p>
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