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    Venezuela's Skyscraper Slum

    Venezuela's Skyscraper Slum

    There's no AC and some units are a 27-story walk-up, but at least there's satellite TV. Torre de David, which almost sounds like a luxury condo but is actually a half-built commercial skyscraper in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas that squatters have been living in since 2007.  While this isn' t the first we heard of Torre de David in the U.S. (The New York Times has reported on it, for example), Foreign Policy offers maybe the most intimate look at squatters' lives there yet with a photo slideshow from Ángela Bonadies and Juan José Olavarría (with accompanying article). While Americans might be tempted to look on with some schadenfreude at such a development failure in communist Venezuela, we can't help but admire how homey and industrious some ordinary Venezuelans have made their concrete abodes. Here's a bit of what life is like in this strange, self-sustaining community.

    They may have cable, but basic services, such as elevators, are lacking. Neighbors say the building houses drug dealers and prostitutes. Thugs take shelter there after committing crimes, and the police refuse to follow them. Security is provided by the residents themselves, who man the doors. I entered the building but was immediately asked to leave by one guard.

    No elevators: so yes, it's a walk-up. Developer David Brillembourg died in 1993 before the 45-story building (the first 27 are occupied) was complete, and the banks it was passed along to went under themselves during a financial crisis a year later. Brillembourg obviously is the namesake of the Torre de David (Spanish for "Tower of David"), what we're guessing is an allusion to Jerusalem's Tower of David, sometimes claimed to be a palace of the Biblical King David. So the name's a bit tongue-in-cheek, since this "palace" is currently housing some nearly 3,000 homeless.

     

    24 comments

    • the judge  •  4 mths ago
      so where's a picture of this so called tower of hell?
    • fe♂  •  4 mths ago
      the cabrinni green of venezuela.
    • tim  •  4 mths ago
      You libtards just love hugo, just like barry nero downgrade.
    • Smarty Pants  •  4 mths ago
      Based on what I saw 30 years ago this is a great improvement from a cardboard box!
    • robert  •  Chico, California  •  4 mths ago
      This story has provided the trolls with fine dining.
      • Gino 4 mths ago
        I'll be here, under my bridge. Wake me when the billy goats come.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  4 mths ago
      Who pays for the cable.
    • JeffC  •  4 mths ago
      Wait a minute !
      Homeless people in a communist country that is a member of OPEC ?
      What are you doing with the money Hugo ?
    • BO'M  •  4 mths ago
      PICTURES YAHOO, PICTURES!! FFS!!
    • May Pang Ping Pong  •  4 mths ago
      El más limpio putas están en el 4 º piso
    • occupy everything chick  •  4 mths ago
      click on photo slide show
    • Mr. Jones's Brother  •  Quitman, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      Click on "Photo Slideshow", I wonder what they charge for a haircut? The tenants should be in good physical condition, those stairs will give you a workout.
    • sebas  •  Baltimore, Maryland  •  4 mths ago
      If you look in the first paragraph and click on the words 'photo slideshow', it takes you to a link of a photo album of what looks like a post-modern office building from afar, but a vertical shantytown when you see it close as well as interior scenes. Yes, this is a view of Chavez's workers 'paradise'. It's confusing what Yahoo did with this article.
    • Ariq  •  Ashtabula, Ohio  •  4 mths ago
      WHOOOOOOOO CARRRRRREEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS???????????
    • David  •  Dubuque, Iowa  •  4 mths ago
      No PICs....I hate to read
    • Yahoo! User  •  San Diego, California  •  4 mths ago
      this is not newsworthy....
      • sandy 4 mths ago
        its yahoo when have they ever put anything newsworthy
    • occupy everything chick  •  4 mths ago
      This is what we middle class have to look forward to when big business and the 1% get finished with us. Take a good look .. This will happen when all manufacturing and all unions are gone and the filthy politicians have all been bought up. W A K E U P ! !
    • JosephC  •  Berlin, Connecticut  •  4 mths ago
      These are the Glories of Socialism as promised by Clowns like Obumma! Still supporting his Hopey Dopey Change? This is what you have to look forward to if he gets re-elected!
    • the judge  •  4 mths ago
      pancakes suck....waffles are better
    • danman  •  Stockton, California  •  4 mths ago
      I love pancakes.
    • Jack Singularity  •  4 mths ago
      In the US, we would have given the bank a bailout and the building would have been kept vacant so that the homeless still had to live on the street. And twenty years later, the investor would have run for President on his 'successful' business record.
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