Communes

President Maduro Proposes Commune-Based Electoral System

November 29, 2025 Orinoco Tribune. Create! Communes, constitutional reform, Democracy, Direct Democracy, Electoral system, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela

President Nicolás Maduro visited the Simón Bolívar Socialist Commune in Caracas’s 23 de Enero parish Thursday, where he praised Venezuela’s communal democracy as direct and real and called for a new electoral system rooted in the communes. He announced that “starting with the next popular consultation, in addition to the prizes for the most active communes, the most-voted communal circuit in each state will automatically have all seven projects submitted by the community approved”—meaning they will receive state funding.

Fisherfolk Resisting Imperialism: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune

October 1, 2025 Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina, Orinoco Tribune. Organize! Afro-Venezuelas, Communes, Resistance, US Sanctions, Venezuela, Working Class

On the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo, Palmarito is an Afro-Venezuelan community shaped by centuries of history, culture, and resilience. Its people carry forward traditions rooted in their African heritage and in the fishing trade. Central to Palmarito’s way of life is the socialist commune, a form of popular self-government that transforms everyday life and work into a shared project. The town is part of the “pueblos santos,” a cluster of Afro-descendant communities bound together by devotion to San Benito of Palermo, the “Black saint,” and the ritual rhythms of the Chimbánguele. Life in Palmarito has always revolved around the lake—its fish provide sustenance and its water routes connect those living along its shores. From the struggle against enslavement and the creation of maroon communities to today’s communal self-governance, Palmarito’s story is one of resistance and collective action.

A Story Of Resistance And Renewal: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune

September 7, 2025 Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Afro-descendants, Communes, History, Venezuela

On the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo, Palmarito is an Afro-Venezuelan community shaped by centuries of history, culture, and resilience. Its people carry forward traditions rooted in their African heritage and in the fishing trade. Central to Palmarito’s way of life is the socialist commune, a form of popular self-government that transforms everyday life and work into a shared project. The town forms part of the “pueblos santos,” a cluster of Afro-descendant communities bound together by devotion to San Benito of Palermo, the “Black saint,” and the ritual rhythms of the Chimbánguele. Life in Palmarito has always revolved around the lake—its fish provide sustenance and its water routes connect those living along its shores.

A Simplistic Analysis Of The Maduro Government Leaves Much Unsaid

May 20, 2025 Steve Ellner, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Communes, Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), New York Times (NYT), Nicolas Maduro, Propaganda, Venezuela

Gabriel Hetland’s article “Capitalism and authoritarianism in Maduro’s Venezuela,” published in New Labor Forum and reposted at LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal, presents a one-sided and decontextualised view of Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro. According to Hetland, the Maduro government is virtually devoid of any redeeming characteristics. Hetland refers approvingly to the claim made by Maduro’s harshest critics on the left, that his government and the right-wing opposition are “two sides of the same coin”. Yet any serious examination of Venezuela under Maduro needs to incorporate the impact of US-imposed economic sanctions into its analysis and not simply make passing reference to them.

Venezuela: Communal Banks To Reactivate Communal Economy

March 7, 2025 Radio Red VE, Orinoco Tribune. Create! Banking and Finance, Communes, Local Economy, Venezuela

The minister for communes and social movements, Ángel Prado, has said that in light of the relaunching of illegal economic sanctions by the US empire, Venezuela is counting on the reactivation of the popular and communal economy through use of the Communal Banks. “In the face of this new aggression from [forces of] imperialism,” he stated during the Assembly of Communes of the People’s Power this Wednesday, March 5, “in our Communal Banks we have funds that come from the surplus of the different social production companies that the El Maizal Commune has; previously, we invested those resources in infrastructure.”

Venezuelan People, Main Foundation Of The Revolutionary Process

February 1, 2025 Alejandra Garcia, Resumen English. Create! Communes, Infrastructure, Participatory Democracy, Venezuela

Venezuela is undergoing a period of profound social transformation, working toward the creation of a society focused on development, self-sustainability, independence, and sovereignty, all while navigating the challenges posed by foreign hostilities, coercive measures, and misinformation campaigns. In this process, community participation plays a crucial role, as it is the key to driving meaningful change and fostering a sustainable future. In this context, on Sunday, Venezuela will hold a historic election unlike any other in the world.

‘The Commune Is Nothing New Here’: The Rio Cataniapo Commune

October 22, 2024 Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Communes, Indigenous Peoples, Socialism, Venezuela

Early in the last decade a set of communities along the Cataniapo River started to organize themselves to protect the river’s ecosystem and bolster their agricultural and handicraft production. A few years later, in response to Chávez’s call to build socialist communes, 15 community councils in the area came together to form the Rio Cataniapo Commune. Today, approximately 1500 people participate in the Río Cataniapo Comune. They come from various ethnic backgrounds, but the majority identify as Indigenous and some still practice common ownership of land.

‘National Popular Consultation’: Voters Choose State-Funded Projects

April 21, 2024 Ricardo Vaz, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Communes, Elections, Participatory Democracy, Venezuela

The Venezuelan people are called to the polls on Sunday, April 21, to decide on projects that will receive government support. The so-called “National Popular Consultation” will be held in 4,500 communal circuits spanning the entire Venezuelan territory. Each circuit is centered in a commune, an assembly-driven popular power organization. All citizens 15 and above are eligible to participate. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) will oversee the election in over 15,000 voting centers but without automatic voting machines.

Sovereign, Domestic Production: Venezuela’s Che Guevara Commune

August 17, 2023 Teri Mattson, WtF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. Podcast – WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean Communes, Economic Security, Sovereignty, Venezuela

Joining the conversation from Merida, Venezuela are episode guests Felipe Vanegaz and Hilmar Rodriguez of the Comuna Che Guevara and the Unión Comunera. On August 1, WTF returned to Venezuela to participate on a 13 day delegation to study the Venezuela Commune System. While on assignment, each week we will share with you a WTF episode related to Venezuela's fight against US economic warfare including ending 200 years of US foreign policy based on domination of the hemisphere, as well as, the creation of socialist means of production for food and services which are helping alleviate the effects of unilateral coercive measures (economic sanctions).

‘Where Danger Lies…’: The Communal Alternative In Venezuela

July 25, 2023 Chris Gilbert, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Capitalism, Communes, Democracy, Hugo Chavez, Socialism, Venezuela

To frame the ecological promise of Venezuela’s communal project, it is useful to consider some of its main features, and contrast them with the capital system. The communes in the country are quite varied, in part because, as expressions of grassroots political and economic democracy, they have developed along diverse lines according to their geographic and social contexts. However, one consistent and decisive feature of all Venezuela’s communes—part of both the legal framework and the on-the-ground reality—is that they involve returning control of production to direct producers, whose conscious organization of productive processes substitutes for the capital system’s rule of abstract value relations that alienate laborers both from their own activities, and from their material and social environment.

Self-Governance In Times Of Blockade: El Sur Existe Commune

March 24, 2023 Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Communes, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

El Sur Existe [The South Exists] is an urban and periurban commune in Valencia, Venezuela’s third-largest city. Its communards have displayed impressive flexibility and creativity in these times of imperialist blockade. They initially worked to develop an economic foundation for their commune that would respond to people’s material needs. Then they worked to strengthen a model of self-government where executive and legislative decisions have to be taken by the community, not by an isolated few. In Part I of this two-part piece for the Communal Resistance Series, El Sur Existe communards explained their commune’s history and its productive initiatives.

The Commune Is The Supreme Expression Of Participatory Democracy

September 23, 2022 Cira Pascual Marquina, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Communes, Participatory Democracy, Venezuela

There is a confrontation of models, a clash of two paradigms not only in Venezuela and in Latin America, but also worldwide. One of the questions in the debate is: who is the historical subject? For us, that is the question of who is it that activates, who lights up the field, who pushes changes forward. And when we reflect on this issue, which means thinking about our own practice, we guide our interpretation by the proposal that developed with Comandante Chavez. Chavez developed a hypothesis after a process of maturing, after a rigorous analysis of the Venezuelan and continental realities, and after a reflection on the revolutionary potential under our feet (based also on a commitment to justice for the poor that was there from the start). His hypothesis was: The commune is the historical subject, the commune and its people, the comuneros, that is where the revolution really begins. So we made this proposal ours, we committed to it.

Venezuelan Cooperatives

July 25, 2022 Ithaca DSA, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Communes, Cooperatives, Land Reform, Venezuela

Dario Azzellini tells Theresa Alt about Venezuelan cooperatives. The Chavez government supported the formation of cooperatives. Many formed; few really succeeded in operating cooperatively. Liberation theology also had been encouraging cooperatives. Other cooperatives arose when entrepreneurs and landowners left Venezuela and the workers took over. Later initiating cooperatives was given to the local-government communes. Local communes have played a more constructive role than central government. Recorded June 8, 2022.

Jump-Starting A Commune: Voices From Monte Sinaí

April 28, 2022 Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Communes, Food and Agriculture, Sanctions, Venezuela

Monte Sinaí Commune is a young organization working hard to foster communal production and strengthen non-market social relations. This commune’s territory reaches into both Anzoátegui and Miranda states, but has its epicenter in the small town of Santa Bárbara in the Guanape Valley. Various crops, including coffee, cocoa, black beans, diverse tubers, and avocado, all grow in this lush and varied region. Since the coffee trees here are old and low in yield, the commune has built a plant nursery to grow coffee seedlings to replace the old trees. The process of forming the Monte Sinaí Commune began about a year ago. Since then, we have been working very hard. As the saying goes, we are a diamond in the rough, but the beauty of the project is beginning to show. Our parliament meets every Wednesday no matter what. That is where we bring our ideas to the table, debate, and plan.

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