Venezuela: Popular Organizations Push Direct Distribution Routes to Boost Food Security

Caracas, September 1, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan grassroots collectives held fish and vegetable distribution initiatives as part of ongoing efforts to increase food security and expand alternative economic channels.

On Friday and Saturday, Plan Pueblo a Pueblo coordinated the delivery of one thousand packs, each carrying 3.8 kilograms of fish and seafood, alongside popular movements and worker groups in Caracas, Yaracuy, Lara and Trujillo states.

A group of workers from the Ministry of Communes likewise benefited from the initiative. The package carried blue runner, stingray, shrimp and arca zebra (“pepitona”) at a total cost of US $13. The price represents savings of 50-60 percent compared to fish markets in Caracas.

“We are very happy to be receiving fish and seafood directly from organized fisherpeople,” Egle Aponte, spokeswoman from the Forjando Los Sueños de Zamora Commune in Coche, southwest Caracas, told Venezuelanalysis. “Not only are they fresh and good-quality products, but they are also affordable because we are getting rid of intermediaries.”

Pueblo a Pueblo organizer Ricardo Miranda explained that the sea products were supplied by Popular Power Fisherpeople Councils (CONPPA), including several women-led collectives, from different towns in Sucre state, eastern Venezuela.

“This is an effort that goes straight from fisherpeople to consumers in communities, without any middlemen involved,” he stated. “We are going to do this every four weeks and expand to more areas in Caracas and other cities.”

Founded in 2015, Pueblo a Pueblo has pushed campesino organization and the construction of political and economic ties between urban and rural movements. It has also emphasized food sovereignty and agroecology principles in agricultural production.

In recent years, it has focused on securing the distribution of healthy produce for school canteens in a joint program with the food and education ministries, supplying around 100 monthly tons during the last school year for around 100,000 children. 

Pueblo a Pueblo has likewise developed an alliance with grassroots fishing organizations in Sucre state to supply protein-rich foods to schoolchildren as well as organized communities in Caracas and other parts of the country. The collective has also promoted the exchange of fish products for fruit and vegetables that are scarcer in coastal areas.

Communard Union vegetable route

Venezuela’s Communard Union (Unión Comunera) also held a food distribution event over the weekend, with vegetables sourced from the Comandante Supremo Commune in Valera, Trujillo state, and delivered at the Negro Miguel and Agua de Obispo Communes, in the Simón Planas and Torres municipalities of Lara state, respectively.

The shipment consisted of 3.5 tons of produce, including potatoes, carrots, onions and tomatoes, that were sold on Saturday. Between 500 and 600 people purchased fruit and vegetables, according to local sources, at prices around 40 percent below the market.

Carlos Vegara “Carache,” a spokesperson from Negro Miguel Commune in Buría, highlighted the importance of building direct ties between communes, “with no need for intermediaries.”

“This was an excellent initiative because it allowed local communities to access produce that is hard to find in this region at affordable prices,” Vergara told Venezuelanalysis. “It is an important step towards food security.”

Vergara added that people valued the arrival of fresh vegetables to such a remote part of Lara state.

Officially founded in 2022, the Communard Union aims to bring together communes to form an alliance on a national scale. Former President Hugo Chávez defined communes, which are territorial self-government instances, as the “building blocks” for the construction of socialism.

Juan Lenzo, a member of the Communard Union, told Venezuelanalysis that the organization aims to sustain and expand direct distribution efforts to link different communes with its own transportation units. According to Lenzo, such processes will strengthen the communal economy by bypassing traditional market channels and retaining surpluses.

The Communard Union currently brings together 136 communes in 18 Venezuelan states, with initiatives centered on territorial work, political training and local economies.

Edited by Cira Pascual Marquina from Caracas.