 So welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean, Cold Pink's weekly webinar. We broadcast every Wednesday, 7.30 p.m. Eastern time and 4.30 p.m. Pacific. Today we have the pleasure of having with us a very special guest from Venezuela. His name is Ángel Prado and he is from the El Maizal commune in Venezuela. He is here to talk with us about how the commune in Venezuela is a people's response to US illegal sanctions. Well, first of all, thank you very much for being here with us, Ángel. We know that El Maizal is a reference in the common struggle of Venezuela and also everything that is the popular power and what represents El Maizal in that struggle. But I think that here in the United States it is not understood well what a commune is. So to start with the most basic of what you understand or define, please, what a commune is according to experience and talk a little about what the structures of the communes are. Yes, good afternoon, thank you very much. We are trying to express for some days, some media, hope messages to the world and especially talk about the truth of Venezuela, about the truth and with the truth to tell you that we, despite the economic situation and the blockade that we have in the country, we are a very optimistic and very hopeful people in that what we are doing soon in a short period of time has resulted in conquering, reconquering that good and we have to say to President Chávez, the most appreciated language, not only the independence but also the independence, in this case, the supreme happiness of our people. We have been coming for many years with a good, well, enjoying ourselves, missing social debt and unfortunately, it has put us in a difficult situation in the country but we are going to resolve it little by little, each one of you from the space or the trench where you can military, where you can contribute and build. The commune for us is a territorial space where a local government is founded, where the people are protagonists from joining forces and planning and the people are protagonists of their own development. From the potentials, from knowing how to deal with the difficulties and from the collective means to join forces to take advantage of the strengths that exist in that territory, from human beings, from natural wealth to the cultural aspect, we are going to say so in a community, in a society that, well, it stops being seen as individual, as an individual subject and begins to look for the way to join together according to the resolution of problems that many times the solution is in the same territory. Little for us as a socialist, well, that's what I said, in a territorial space and where the forces live, well, they join together and achieve, from the planning, a local development of that area. In the commune, the biggest exercise of democracy is done, let's say so, because it is achieved through participation or with the participation of the people, it is achieved not only by planning, organizing, but it is also achieved by interpelling, it is achieved by opinioning, the assembly is free, the maximum distance of approval in a commune, let's say the largest political force in a commune where there is full freedom of any citizen or citizen of any age and of any level, in this case economic or professional, or not, can participate in their ideas and make their planning even claim, let's say, about what is not right or or opinion on what, as a citizen, can be considered, because I believe that it is a well-planned democratic exercise, a method that is used well oriented, in this case by President Chavez, obviously there are some texts that one reviews, reads there, talks with people who study, for example, topics, other examples of communes that throughout history have been known, some processes, the Venezuelan commune, in this case a commune with a certain, let's say with a certain profile, and that there is a clear intention by President Chavez to try to take care of the process, the organization, and that will only happen when the people know what is happening in the area of ​​the commune, when the people know what decisions are being taken in the commune, but above all, when the people think about what is planned for that territory, about the decision that is going to be taken, because in the commune there is the assembly of citizens and citizens with maximum approval distance, there is also the commune parliament, which is the legislative body where each community is designated or delegated, let's say a person who joins with all the instances or the small organizations that understand that commune, political, productive, social, economic organizations, each organization has a ministry that includes all or is gathered in the commune parliament and there it is also a mechanism, a form of discussion and approval debate, as well as within the commune, some, for example, the agricultural sector is gathered, make decisions, raise the parliament, the cultural sector, the student sector, the transportation sector, to say something, each instance of that is gathered, according to their interests, they make plans, they go, to say something, to the commune parliament and the parliament becomes the parliament, because in the parliament it is discussed and presented, let's say the assembly as the political line, since it is supported to discuss the base, if it is necessary to discuss it in great assembly, well, because there is someone who has doubts, who has concerns that it is not what is proposed to approve and apply, well, it is carried out in the greater instance, where the people, in an open assembly of citizens and citizens, where they are in a debate and it is decided there to approve or not, for example, as the case in the commune, there is a company of social property, direct, communal, and the economic team or the parliament is deciding to sell it or make an alliance with, to say, a private sector, and the people are not agree, because they are going to think that they can lose that economic good, that economic heritage, that it serves us all, that it belongs to us all, it is a decision that cannot be taken by the legislative body, in this case the parliament, because it is authorized, it is delegated to them, attributed to them a vote, but there is a greater instance, but I think it is the way of blinding, it is a way of blinding, and that is why we like the proposed by the president Chavez, when they say in some article that the assembly of citizens and citizens is the maximum distance for the approval of what, of the things that happen within the commune. How many people are part of the communal my side? We are 3,200 families, right now there is a migration towards our commune, you know that we are in the central western area of ​​the country, many people who are going to the area of ​​Colombia have also been refusing, let's say so, with our territory, products that, well, there are possibilities of work, to develop agricultural plans that can, well, insert to small percentage of people who still have doubts sometimes in the system, or not, or as people who are going and soon return and in the areas where there is activation, let's say economic, where there is a form of microcredit for farming to agriculture, where at least there is work, where there is food, there is a certain guarantee of being quiet, well, people are looking, as the migrant can sometimes look to install there, well, then in our commune we are in the last census of 2020 we had 3,200 common, 3,200 families for the order of about 10,000 people, but it is a territory that is very visited, that is where people go, in addition to what it has, among the communes it has, El Maizal is a small reference that talks about many positive things about El Maizal in the Venezuelan popular field and many of the people who are close and even central in El Maizal, we are going to find, for example, people from different states of the country, from different regions of the country who come, plan, contribute, collaborate, well, stay there until they formalize their life in the commune and that they are inserted, let's say to the political and economic life of our reality and within those families let's say that what is the role of the woman, what is the role of the woman in the commune? Well, as it is common in Venezuela, well, it is very normal that we find that the woman is majority in the participation of the woman is the one that occupies, let's say, the majority of politics in the commune council, within the CLAC, within the instances of the parliament, for example, in my commune we are 24 commune councils where there are two voicers, a main one, a supply for each commune council and I can tell you that 85% of the voicery is in the companies that, well, they fight every day, which are the ones that delegate, which are the voicers, who become the person who attends, let's say, the first person who attends the problems of the community, the one who listens, the one who accompanies the people in the morning, in the afternoon, many times at night, the one who sometimes, well, has to live with the people in some situations, even those who cannot be resolved and that gives them that sensitivity, the companions, they are giving it to them or they are winning as a leader, in fact, and well, as a leader, something takes them to become the voicers, not the representatives, but the voicers of their community, because it is the people who have a lot of sensitivity to defend the interests of the community, from the small details and from the resolution also of problems that affect you as education, as soon as the funding is paid for agriculture in the most urban communities, the subject of the crime, the subject of an alphabetism, and well, they are the companions who lead, let's say, the leader in all that political and social work and that is why it is very common in the communities of the country and in the cornfield, especially where we find the political voicery, especially in the hands of a companion who, well, they are also informing, in addition to having time for their family, for their home, for their community, they also spend their time to train, to, let's say, document themselves, especially this feminist debate that we are making on the level of the communes, to, well, to be eradicating, not to be fighting the machismo, the patriarchy, the mistreatment of the companions, it is very common and sound, well, in a way, a joke, but it is the truth, many companions, when this whole process of the Bolivarian Revolution begins, when the communal concepts are born, and with that mission they return to the face that the president of Chavez implemented and then we go to the process of the communes, many companions have found a space where to participate, a space of encounter between them and, well, they were companions who even decided to change their life dynamics, right? And today the woman in Venezuela is empowered, a woman with a lot of value, with a lot of firmness in the defense of her rights, but above all convinced in working and contributing to the social and economic transformation of her community. We also want to discuss the sanctions, the unilateral coercive measures of the United States against Venezuela and in a concrete way in which they affect the commune. So to enter into that discussion you can comment a little about the importance of diesel for the commune del Maizal, knowing that one of the last actions that the Trump government was to prohibit these diesel cangises that Venezuela made with oil companies, which is the petrol can of diesel. And now we see how it seems that a shortage of diesel is beginning. Yes, well, unfortunately, well, this year we would come, above all, to the agricultural sector of the country and in the popular sectors we were being very affected by the lack of agricultural resources. There is an absence, let's say, of consumption, product of which importation is little. We do not have all the popular organizations, we do not have, or the vast majority, we do not have license or ability to import products that, well, are a few of the resources that we have. And yet we were resolving, for example, the issue of the seeds that came from Mexico, from the payoneer, from the cargill. We went through that demand, we were covering it, from the fact that in Venezuela it has also given an interesting process in the middle of the blockade. We began to produce seeds. For example, we have a very interesting relationship with the friends of the MST of Brazil. They supported us in technical cooperation to study, convince us that we were going to produce seeds and we had resolved, let's say, the situation of the seeds, at least for some common people, at least for the demand of our local people. And he has promoted that practice and other common people have also done it. And now there are many common people who are solving that situation, right? Just like some of us, sorry, some agricultural insumers, that we are using in a agroecological way to strengthen, let's say, and cover that need of chemical products that are not coming, that chemical products that, if they are true, generate greater yield in the amount of production, but with the agroecological product, it can cover, let's say, and that, I don't know what, we don't want to cover at least one part in the way that we are improving. I think that we could, seeing experiences in the world, from the agroecological practice, we could already reach a good level of production, of important performance with this new model of agriculture, the healthy agriculture. However, the issue of machinery is very difficult, the access to animal medicine is very difficult, we are not prepared to solve everything. It is a topic that we must also talk about with a lot of sincerity. The blockade affects us, even though it has put us, it has awakened us, let's say, at the level of creativity and of inventing things, because it will always affect us because we were a totally dependent country, where producers of raw material and there were no processes of research, of application of technology, and above all the rescue of artisanal cultures, products that, well, we already get into expensive agriculture, there is already a lot of what we are producing. This year, unfortunately, when we already had achieved that, even by inventing some more economic development in the industrial sector, the metallurgic, the metal-mechanical, we would come manufacturing pieces, activating machinery, it is like a war, in reality it is like a war, one gets to see what has happened in Syria and it is like, well, it is a situation almost disastrous, how does that little by little get up here? Well, it has not fallen yet, let's say, the first bomb, despite the fact that the president of the republic almost exploded a drone in his face, but I think it is a different war, but it does not stop being a war that affects us, it affects us a lot. And this year, the theme of diesel begins to be scarce, the diesel, and we are, well, with concern, with concern about how to do it, for example, we are in the month of May, normally in Venezuela the seed begins in the month of May, which is the good one for the seed of cereals, leguminous, sugar cane, is where the grass is recovered for cattle breeding, and we do not even have to mechanize or do maintenance, it has been very difficult for us, we have a machine to stop, but then there is no diesel. In fact, at this moment we are thinking about solving the situation, there are people who, especially in the Andean area, are applying, returning to rescue the manual work, because it is a smaller agriculture, the use of cows, which is a practice that in Los Andes everything is preserved a lot, but when it is extensive agriculture, it is really difficult for us, we believe that, as well as in 2014-2015, the economy began to explode, from the fact that there is a blockade, and the decree, well, I think that from the film of a decree that condemns, well, to these characters forever, more than condemning us, condemns ourselves morally. Well, as we saw it and it surprised us so much, unfortunately, they changed our country, the economic, social dynamics of our country, every year, we have seen new things, and with a lot of sacrifice and being people on the road, we also have to recognize human losses, losses with a lot of economic losses, we have been solving them, and I think that in some other way we are going to solve this difficult situation in the present, to advance in the agricultural field. Last month the National Congress of Communities was held, and many proposals came out, including proposals from a law on municipal cities, the law on the municipal parliament, and everything that points to what is the idea of ​​the municipal state, if you can briefly explain the concept of this municipal state. Yes, there is a great debate in the country, from the beginning of the Council with Alex, the same president Chavez invites us to build a popular, organized, strong, conscious power. In 2007, attempts were made that, unfortunately, they could not be done much, however, in 2010, the laws of popular power began to be implemented, this year 2020, the economic situation affected the popular organization a lot, and some experiences, or several experiences, we were able to survive, even advance, because we had worked, let's say, in the time of good, we had advanced on the productive issue, and that helped us a lot, especially on the cultural issue of how to manage, how to live sometimes with sufficient resources, but also how to manage well when the resources are little, how to learn to prioritize, and that has led us to 2021, when the president Nicolás Maduro plans to resume the debate on the cities as an army, in order to go to build, well, all this, let's say, all this debt that we still have, even with the national project Simón Bolívar, and that we must, in this year of the bicentenary, in our country, we must advance in an epic, no, in a very important event, consistent with this story, no, and I think it is now, it is still being an interesting moment for our people, I think that that debate is being made at the national assembly level, at the level of the communes, at the level of the communal parliaments, to, well, to get insumers and to be able to consolidate the laws, to establish legal mechanisms, but also to be able to, let's say, to visualize, to build together a working method that allows us to consolidate the people through their structures, through the planning that has been made of the commune, of the commune, of the commune, of the commune, of the communal city. I think it is a quite interesting debate, it has been moving forward, we believe that the commune must be built, and we are the ones who started the idea that the commune, and we are sure of that, the commune is being built, in the concrete fact, it is politically backed up with the laws, but we can have all the laws we have, but it has been common, we are going to see it, we are going to feel it, and it is going to be good for us as the people, in reality, take those laws as tools, and apply them, apply them from the will of the people, and from the way of working in the community. I think it is a quite interesting moment for those of us who are decided from the territory to organize the commune, for those of us who see that it has served us, for many, especially in this difficult stage, and well, it will remain territories where the people, if we can have the best laws, but if they are not applied, if they are not implemented, unfortunately they will not exist, let's say, in that communal state, in general, in the country. In the maizal, the maizal is as if it were a small, small country, it has its rules, it has a state, a normative body, approved from its legislative instance, legitimized by its community, by its people, it has its administrative instance, it has its economic system, it has its political council, it has its social program, it has its economic system, it has its political council, it has its social program, it is constituting itself as the state within that organization, it is changing the communal state within that organization, as long as it is just a theme, from the thesis of the Injection, that is, from the president Chávez, as long as it is just a theme with other experiences, with others more, and that we go from the organic building that, from below, because the more the laws that this program, the political will of our government, I think that we could advance in that, in that, in that objective that we have drawn, as it is to build the state as a socialist. Well, one last question before talking to the, with the partner Arbomini, no? My question I think is, what is the role that the municipal government has played with the commune? Has it been a support, an obstacle? Tell us a little. Well, unfortunately, you ask me in our case, in general, in general, the role of the closest instances, the closest instance to the commune is, in this case, the mayor, the closest government to the commune, as well as the commune, the closest government of the family, or the municipal council, well, the mayor, who lives in constant, in constant concern, in some things, in some cases, constant contradiction, as in our case, but in some cases, they live with a lot of concern to see how the people organize themselves and in a way and sometimes autonomously take decisions based on their local interests of that territory. In reality, there is a kind of a shock in the form, in the method of, especially, applying democracy, let's say so, from the heart, the decision, in the heart of the decision, takes a person, it is the mayor, the support of a small team that accompanies them. In the commune we go to the assembly, and any right to appeal to the assembly, to demand that a point of discussion is taken to the assembly, and it is approved there. I think that, from the cultural point of view, it is very different, the methods that are applied, but well, we have also been able to deal with that, with living, let's say, wherever you can, avoid confrontations that can weaken the commune, and on the contrary, sometimes what we do is say to the mayor that go to the commune, that you don't have friends in the commune, that you get close, that you plan with us, and that, if you behave well, it can be the mayor of vitality, and if you behave well, the commune takes away your positions. But hey, they are things, no, because they are like two models, two forms, two forms of administration, including different resources, and it is very, and although we want to maintain harmony, it is very difficult, because in the neighborhood we go to the space, and here, closed, we decide that we do things, in exchange for the commune, you have to attend to the old man, to the young man, to the one who speaks hard, to the one who claims, the one who demands, the one who brings his idea, and it is the people, and as Gino Gonzalo says, they are the people of Chave, they are the people of the land, they are the serapastrosos that want to claim their rights because of the Chave and the Gracie, and because the commune is one of the communes of all. It is because of that intervention that it shows that, well, that all the revolution does not have their contradictions, but despite that, the organization and, well, and the resistance, it is an example for all of us, really, we admire them a lot.