A 45-story skyscraper rises in the center of Caracas, with breathtaking views of the Avila mountain range, large terraces and a helipad. However, this is not a five-star hotel, nor an exclusive residential complex, but a slum, probably the tallest in the world. The building was to be a brand new financial center – Centro Financiero Confinanzas – whose construction, begun in 1990, was interrupted in 1994, following the death of the main investor, the financier David Brillembourg, from whose name the enormous building is later nicknamed the "Tower of David". During the banking crisis of the same year, the Tower of David was sold to the state, which left the skyscraper incomplete due to lack of funds. In 2007, the housing emergency affecting the Venezuelan capital prompted hundreds of homeless people to illegally occupy, with their families, the tower, which lacked lifts, electrical systems, running water and, in some parts, even window frames and portions of walls. The government of President Chavez turned a blind eye, and year after year the number of "guests" of the skyscraper increased, reaching the current 3 people.
While for many Caracasians the tower is a den of thieves and a cumbersome symbol of the growing irreverence for property, for those who live there it is something of a paradise compared to the high-crime suburbs from which they hail. The occupants have worked hard in recent years: they have closed open spaces that could be dangerous, they have brought running water up to the 22nd floor, they have completed the electrical systems. Even from an organizational point of view, things are running more efficiently than one is led to believe. The common areas are clean, each floor has its own manager, delegated by a committee to maintain order and manage shifts for cleaning and repairs, and infractions of the discipline are punished with overtime work for the good of the community. The families residing in the skyscraper tax themselves for 200 bolivars ($32) a month to meet common needs and pay for armed patrols that ensure 24-hour security. inside what everyone now calls their home they generally undertake not to create problems. In many common rooms, moreover, a poster stands out which in an openly didactic tone warns that "without ethics or principles, everything is irrational".
https://au.news.yahoo.com/odd/a/22332707/venezuelas-skyscraper-slum-provides-haven-for-poor/
