The fear grips the residents of Ciudad Tiuna as they witness two of the buildings in this urban complex being walled off to supposedly house a military unit tasked with protecting some of the key figures involved in the Chavista corruption residing in Fuerte Tiuna, reports a source from Venezuela Política. What are they afraid of?
Moreover, those living in Ciudad Tiuna are scared they might soon become victims of eviction by Juan Francisco Escalona Camargo, a deputy and military officer who served as an aide to Hugo Chávez, to whom Nicolás Maduro allegedly assigned the task of taking over the buildings. The military man is reportedly experienced in this area, having acted similarly in his hometown Biscucuy (Portuguesa).
The situation in Ciudad Tiuna — explains the source to Venezuela Política — involves twelve towers divided into two groups of six buildings. Currently, two of these are being separated by a wall to accommodate the military protection unit for the luxurious neighborhoods where the revolutionaries reside in Fuerte Tiuna.
Evictions
These walled towers provide quick access to the ecological school and the Guaicaipuro and Simón Bolívar urbanizations in Fuerte Tiuna.
It has been reported that in a nearby housing complex, Escalona is evicting the officers who live there. He is not alone in this, as the Agricultural Peasant Council Mano Roso has denounced that Escalona’s guards “attempted to evict them from the Siempre Verde property in the Tucupido area of Guanare, Portuguesa state” (1).
Similarly, the source from Venezuela Política claims that one of the two towers houses a situational room.
Meanwhile, the terrified residents of Ciudad Tiuna watch as the wall around buildings 7 and 8 goes up and as military-style bunk beds are being installed in these buildings.
About Ciudad Tiuna
Like many other projects announced by Chavismo in 2010, Ciudad Tiuna is an urban development promoted by the late former president, Hugo Chávez, who announced the construction of this housing complex on 146 hectares of the military complex in Fuerte Tiuna, Caracas, as part of the Housing Mission.
Between 2010 and 2012, several “inaugurations” took place, and it was denounced by Transparency Venezuela as an unfinished project (2). It is described as a ghetto with inadequate services, designed to house around one hundred thousand people in 25,000 apartments across 240 buildings. Most residents come from Caracas’ lower-class neighborhoods like La Vega, La Silsa, Casalta, San Agustín, and Las Mayas, as well as public officials and members of the National Guard.
The schools, healthcare centers, and sports facilities that were promised as part of the complex remained mere promises. Residents must face crime and the political control of armed groups (3). This lifestyle is vastly different from that of their neighbors on the other side of the wall, where military officials and their families live.
The development has also not been immune to the corruption that has characterized the twenty-five years of socialist revolution in Venezuela (4). Its construction was part of a cooperation agreement signed between Chinese, Russian, and Belarusian companies with resources from the China-Venezuela Fund. A huge amount of money has circulated in this “business,” with the Brazilian firm Odebrecht allegedly involved as well. Not to mention the Russian businessmen who benefited with the blessing of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which ordered million-dollar payments in favor of the Russian Foundation for Housing Construction (5).