César Caprioli: Can you tell us a little about Palmarito Commune?
Leidi Solarte: My name is Leidi Solarte. We are in the community of Palmarito, the only lake port in the state of Mérida. I am the head of the self-governance council of the Palmarito Socialist Afro-descendant Commune.
Here we are organized through what we call Community Councils. In our community there are eight Community Councils, and since 2009 or 2010, through the policies of our Eternal Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, the commune was created.
In our case, it is called the Palmarito Socialist Afro-descendant Commune, which is represented by eight sectors of our community: the Wayuu sector, the El Trapiche sector, Rural A, and Rural B. We have the Downtown sector, the Beach sector, the El Vigía sector, and the El Empujón sector.
We are organized through the CLAPs, which are the Local Supply and Production Centers. These are made up of community leaders; in our case, we have three community leaders and 15 street leaders. That is, one street leader for every street in our town. Through the street leaders, we are able to identify all the needs, weaknesses, and strengths we have here in our community regarding education and health.
We have one person per street who is responsible for gathering information, such as the number of pregnant women, farmers, and fishermen and the needs we have in the community. We use this information to conduct a census of the local population.
CC: Could you mention a few issues being addressed within the community?
LS: Yes, of course! Look, in the self-governance room — which is an organization also created through the national government since last year. There, we can see everything that makes up our community.
We have five fishermen’s associations, we have a citizen participation office, we have a stadium, we have a sports field, and we have a municipal swim center and a clinic. There in the self-government council, we can reflect on and see all the potential we have here in our community, as well as — and this is very important — the concrete action agenda, what we call the ACA.
That is where all the critical issues and their solutions, as well as all the potential present in our town of Palmarito, are reflected.
CC: And have you been living in Palmarito your whole life?
LS: Yes. I’ve lived here in the community my whole life.
CC: So you knew the community before the commune was established?
LS: Yes, of course. Here, before the commune was created, we had the community councils. And long before the community councils, we were organized here through the Civil Association. The Civil Association was led by a single person. Today, we have the eight community councils, which are made up of many people, and on top of that, we have the commune, which is composed of around 90 to 100 people, and we are the ones responsible for overseeing the entire functioning of our community.
CC: I understand that the idea is to move from a representative model of government — for example, you told me there was one person who represented the entire community — to a model of popular power.
LS: What is the difference from the civil association before, which was led by a single person? Today, the national government involves all of us in the process of building popular power.
The aim is to give us access to all the resources, needs, and potential that exist in the community. It’s not just one person within the commune who does this. We have a structure, for example, called the Communal Parliament. It’s like our National Assembly. Just as it operates in the city of Caracas, we also have it within our communities — within the communes — where the Communal Parliament is the highest authority.
In the case of the Communal Parliament, it is made up of 16 people, with one main member and one alternate. We meet, and when it comes time to implement a project we need to carry out, the Communal Parliament is the one that decides what structures or methodologies we will use to execute that project. Of course, this project was previously chosen by the Citizens’ Assembly.
The commune doesn’t work alone. For example, we just went through the Popular Consultation. We chose seven projects to be implemented in our community, but the commune doesn’t choose them, the communal councils don’t choose them — the community as a whole chooses them through the Citizens’ Assemblies.
That is where we choose, from all the projects we need, the seven that we truly want or consider to be the priority. Then, after this Assembly, the Community Parliament, together with the members of the commune, meets, and that is where we establish the working methodology through which we will carry out all these activities.
CC: Regarding the Popular Consultation, which projects were chosen?
LS: Well, we have a project to repair the Casa de San Benito building. Regarding fishing, the purchase of a Thermo King cold storage unit for cooling crab and fish.
We also selected the strengthening, maintenance, and improvement of our town’s drinking water system. Additionally, the completion of the paving in the El Empujón sector. These were, so to speak, the most relevant projects we had at this time through the public consultation.
CC: How do you feel the community has changed since the commune was established and its People’s Power institutions were strengthened? Has anything changed in the way you engage with life here, among yourselves? I imagine it fosters a sense of community, a sense of belonging. There’s also the important role of women, right?
LS: Well, I believe that the creation of the communes and the communal councils has been one of the most advanced mechanisms and the best strategy for us to achieve that unity, that connection between People’s Power and the national government, because previously we barely knew the name of the President of the Republic. And that was only because they taught it to us in our schools. But today, that’s not the case.
Today, with this unity, with this inclusion of People’s Power and the communes, we get to know who the different ministers are. Here we’ve had the privilege of being visited by ministers, vice ministers, the governor, and today we’ve been so fortunate to have had that direct contact with all these people and even been able to have a cup of coffee with them.
So that is an advantage. And I believe it is the greatest achievement we have been able to attain through the Revolution. We are now fighting even harder to ensure that all those resources — which we previously did not pay attention to — are strengthened and reach our communities. When a resource arrives at the clinic, the commune, the community, everyone pitches in to help distribute them.
And of course, where does this lead us? To a stronger national identity — an identity rooted in what is ours, in our ancestors, in what matters to us. Because when we’re working for our community, and we’re the ones ensuring that everything in our community is generated and that all resources reach us, that’s what matters to us, and it deepens our sense of belonging.
