On May 31st, Venezuelanalysis interviewed Angel Prado, a key organizer of El Maizal Commune[1]. The conversation followed hard on the heels of an attempt to jail him and two other local organizers. The conversation sheds light on the current Chavista campesino struggle in Venezuela.

Most Venezuelanalysis readers know about El Maizal, both as an expression of communal popular power and because we covered the conflict in December surrounding your election as mayor of Simon Planas township (position that was subsequently given to another candidate by governmental decree)[2]. Nevertheless, it would be good to open with a brief synthesis of the communal project that you are involved in.