Caracas Chronicles

It’s been two weeks to the day since the central government decided to evict those living in the the infamous “Torre de David”. So far, only around 25% of the premises have been vacated.

The question that many are asking is what to do with the former Centro Financiero Confinanzas.

Officials want to refute the whole “the Chinese made us do it” mantra, and they claim to want people to have a voice in the future plans, whatever they may be. The problem is that those plans are undermined by indecisiveness and improvisation.

At the center of this is Ernesto Villegas, the losing candidate for Caracas mayor last year, and now de-facto parallel mayor. Villegas has personally taken charge this operation (which he called “Zamora” Why? Dunno.), and he is pushing for an open public consultation to decide the fate of the tower.

Days earlier, his boss Nicolas Maduro said that the demolition of the tower was “the most viable option” so they could build something there for families. But before that, he said other possible options were on the table, like a mall or a financial center as originally planned. The public consulation will finally take place at the end of this week.

Meanwhile, another building in the same situation as the Tower of David is waiting to learn its future: the former Sambil Mall at La Candelaria, which was expropiated by the comandate eterno back in 2008 and was later turned into a shelter for those who lost their homes in floods two years later.

Around a hundred families who still live there are waiting for their possible relocation. The head of the Sambil Constuction company wants to recover the premises – kind of understandable given how his mall was taken away without ever getting a penny for it. Yet local neighbors have plans of their own and want an open discussion about it.

The only hope is that any plan doesn’t take as long as the never-ending reconstruction of the Parque Central East Tower, the tallest building in the city, badly damaged in a fire more ten years ago.