Squatting in Venezuela

In the capital Caracas notable squats have included the 23 de Enero housing estate, Centro Financiero Confinanzas (a derelict skyscraper) and El Helicoide, a former shopping centre which is now a notorious prison.

The informal settlements were known as ranchos,[1] and shacks were built out of recycled materials such as cinder blocks, metal, cardboard and cement.

[2] Following the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état, thousands of people occupied empty apartments in the superblocks of the 2 de Diciembre (2 December) housing estate, which had been built in tribute to the then President of Venezuela, Marcos Pérez Jiménez.

The authorities struggled to regularize the new residents and to collect rent, which in some cases the squatters were reluctant to pay since the apartments were unfinished and there were problems with the water supply.

[1] Whilst the state tolerated the block squatters, it decided to evict the ranchos, in a policy reminiscent of the previous dictatorship.

[6] An earlier squatted building in Caracas was El Helicoide, which is located in the barrio of San Agustín del Sur.