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El Alto Government Demolishes 15 Houses

Yesterday the municipal government of El Alto demolished 15 homes in the neighborhood Villa Dolores which it claimed were built illegally. Around noon on Monday officials with two backhoes and approximately 50 police officers began knocking on doors informing residents that their homes would be bulldozed in a few minutes. The affected families claim that the government did not notify them of the plan and had not given them time to remove their belongings from their homes. The newly cleared land will be used to construct the second phase of Avenida Panorámica, a major thoroughfare.

The affected community has been fighting the National Railroad Company in court over the rights to the land since 2005. According to Eustaquio Copaja, a resident who lost his home, the land had been entrusted to previous employees of the company over 20 years ago. Despite the community outcry that residents received little if any notification of the demolition, Deputy Mayor Alejandro Tacachura insisted that the government followed a legal course of action.

As expansion of Avenida Panorámica continues residents of other neighborhoods and commercial areas will also face eviction and the eventual leveling of their homes and businesses.

For more in Spanish see:

http://www.laprensa.com.bo/noticias/23-02-10/noticias.php?nota=23_02_10_regi1.php

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