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Squatters in 45-Story building in Caracas

greenleaf

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This is pretty amazing. The video is a must see.

A 45-Story Walkup Beckons the Desperate by By SIMON ROMERO and MARÃA EUGENIA DÃAZ.

"The office tower, one of Latin America’s tallest skyscrapers, was meant to be an emblem of Venezuela’s entrepreneurial mettle. But that era is gone. Now, with more than 2,500 squatters making it their home, the building symbolizes something else entirely in this city’s center.

The squatters live in the uncompleted high-rise, which lacks several basic amenities like an elevator. The smell of untreated sewage permeates the corridors. Children scale unlit stairways guided by the glow of cellphones. Some recent arrivals sleep in tents and hammocks.

Few of the building’s terraces have guardrails. Even walls and windows are absent on many floors. Yet dozens of DirecTV satellite dishes dot the balconies. The tower commands some of the most stunning views of Caracas. It contains some of its worst squalor."
 
I'm shocked that nobody else has responded because this is absolutely FASCINATING. Not sure how I hadn't already heard of this before, but... yeah. People should watch the video (on the left and scrolled down in the link posted above).

Thanks for posting this!
 

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