Caracas Daily Journal (Vincent Bevins): The fall-out from the Carnival wave of squatter occupations in several districts of Caracas continued as the authorities claimed success in quickly ousting dozens of people illegally occupying buildings. An inquest into the scale of the problem posed by squatters got under way amid allegations that the Metropolitan Police (PM) had been involved in taking over the Cedíaz shopping mall on Avenida Casanova.
The police denied this as it emerged that this was the third time the building had been a target of squatters, some of whom had extorted money from the owners. Officials said over 150 buildings in the capital were occupied by squatters, some of them for as long as the last three years.
A stand-off at an apartment block on Avenida Urdaneta in the downtown district of Candelaria had added to the tension after masked men held a judge captive who'd gone to order them out of an apartment.
Judge Zulay Bravo was re-leased after squatters had thrown bottles, bricks and heavy objects down onto the PM and the National Guard (GN) outside. The police claimed the men were armed. Their fate wasn't disclosed.
Metropolitan Mayor Juan Barreto came under pressure from allegations he was involved with squatter groups. He denied responsibility for the takeover at the Cedíaz mall. Such actions were "illegal, they violate the law and the right to property and we believe they must be avoided," he said.
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As long as the "socialist" government of Venezuela remains tied to bourgeois concepts of legality and private property in the name of 'social peace' between the classes, ridiculous situations like this will continually recurr.
ReplyDeleteIf this is a socialist revolution in fact, either the government -- or the locally-organized councils or other groups -- have the responsibility and the right to seize unused and unoccupied dwellings for the immediate use of the people of the crowded barrios. What right do people such as slumlords and speculators have to "private property" they don't personally use? None.