-
[Music playing: "Casas Viejas"
by Francisco Canaro and Ada Falcón]
-
My name is Rolando Arenos.
-
I have lived in this neighborhood
for roughly 46 years.
-
We came here from the countryside,
from the mountains.
-
There was no water.
There was no sewage system.
-
We would have committee
meetings on weekends.
-
Taking out dirt, making piles.
-
And that's how we started to build
our neighborhood, bit by bit.
-
We used to beg the mayor
to install a sanitation system.
-
Not to give it to us for free.
To charge us.
-
He kept refusing to install
any public utilities.
-
So when we realized he was not
going to install any utilities
-
we took the electricity from over there,
-
we drank the water from Santa Margarita.
-
We went back to to the mayor, and he
said, "You all don't know when to stop."
-
"If you come back and break the water
pipes, I'm going to throw you in jail."
-
So we decided on collective action.
-
We made a proposal, and the mayor said,
-
"You have left me with no choice.
We will install the utilities."
-
We were born here.
We're staying here. No evictions.
-
This is the Cascada neighborhood.
-
Out of 185 homes, 75 have received eviction
notices due to the occupants' risk of death,
-
due to the crumbling structures,
-
caused by unstable incomes and other
events in the neighborhood's history.
-
The problem in associated with
this neighborhood because
-
it's on a piece of land that provides
structural support to a highway
-
and it's bound by
-
the Cascada ravine, the Chaguala ravine,
and Ocean Highway.
-
When they built the highway...
-
Interviewer: The highway
wasn't there before?
-
No. There was a road,
but it was very small.
-
Then they made it wider.
-
And when they made it wider,
they damaged the houses.
-
It looked like a handmade dirt temple.
-
Then afterwards, they put up a wall.
-
And even with that wall, they continued
to damage the neighborhood.
-
This community has had a problem
for nine or ten years.
-
They had to fix the highway,
-
which is directly above the neighborhood,
-
because it became unstable and
part of the mountain collapsed
-
and blocked that part of the roadway,
and there was a landslide.
-
My name is Maria Isabel Muñoz,
and I live in the Cascada neighborhood.
-
The situation has gotten worse since 1999,
-
with the widening of the highway
that goes towards the ocean.
-
Because of the construction of a wall,
carried out by the state,
-
which was not built according to code,
-
and did not take into account the runoff
-
from the mountain where they built
housing for displaced families.
-
They damaged the water from the aqueduct.
-
Because over there, on the side,
there's a big tube
-
And on this side, there was another one.
-
And they damaged both.
-
So the excuses started, more,
and more, and more of them
-
and we would tell them, "The water
is coming right through here."
-
Engineers came, but they said,
-
"The issue is, we can't start any trouble
with the government." Understand?
-
And they'd say to us,
-
"Why don't you leave the neighborhood?
Why are you still here?"
-
Why should we leave?
-
I'd argue with them,
-
I'd say, "Since you live somewhere
else, someplace nice."
-
"You couldn't care less. We do care
because we live here."
-
We live here, so we do care.
-
It's been 14 years.
-
Imagine that.
-
14, 15 years practically. And we've
been fighting the government....
-
Let's see what happens now.
-
I've put a lot of money into my house.
-
I haven't been able able to fix it
perfectly because I don't have the means.
-
But the house won't fall.
The way I have it -- it won't fall.
-
I have a lot of these columns.
-
I have about 11 of them .
-
You know area behind this neighborhood?
-
They're building a 33-story
building. Imagine that.
-
Interviewer: "That one won't fall."
-
Those buildings don't fall.
-
A friend of mine lives over there.
-
He has a small farm.
-
I talked to him recently, and he told me,
"Hey man, I'm fed up."
-
They keep asking him if he'll sell
his land. And he refuses.
-
It hurts me. A lot of people aren't
in any condition to move.
-
They're kicking us out
as if we were animals,
-
into these 32 square meter boxes when
we're used to living with normal comforts.
-
There are nice houses here.
-
My house is not big, but I was fine there.
-
Now they're telling me,
'Go live over there!'
-
They gave me an apartment
but I haven't taken it.
-
I told them, "I'm not taking it
because I'm not displaced"
-
I'm not going anywhere. You damaged
my house, now you have to fix it.
-
Once it's fixed, then
I'll decide what to do.
-
I receive financial assistance to help
pay my rent every first of the month.
-
They tell me they're going to take it
away because I haven't demolished my house.
-
because I haven't followed
the demolition order.
-
I told them I'm not going to demolish it
until you fix my housing situation.
-
I don't want an apartment.
I didn't ask for that.
-
I want an old house or a new house. Or
money so that I can choose whatever I want.
-
Whatever the government can give me.
And if not, I won't leave.
-
The government tells me, "Well, ma'am, you
have an order to receive temporary housing.
-
That's it. It's final. You have to go."
-
I said, "If you take away my subsidy and
don't fix anything, I'm going back home.
-
I'll fix it and stay there."
-
Why don't they invest more in our
neighborhood instead of kicking us out?
-
There's people that gave and fought a lot
to build a home for themselves.
-
Some people didn't care.
-
They took the apartment and they left.
And they're fine over there.
-
Everyone has their own opinion.
-
I was going to move into the apartment.
-
But it was so small that I said,
"I won't take it."
-
I asked the lawyer, "If I don't take the
apartment what happens?"
-
He said, "Ma'am, you're not required to
take it if you don't want it."
-
So I told him, "If I didn't have
anywhere to go, I'd take it.
-
But I have a house and
I worked hard for it."
-
The failure to prevent future
risks for these communities
-
has led to larger and more
complicated risks on the ground.
-
This could have been prevented,
-
had the original
construction had been done properly.
-
About 14-15 years ago, residents
began to file complaints
-
because their houses were falling apart.
-
The residents blame this, in part, on the
work that began about 10, 11 years ago
-
on the construction of a westward highway
towards the New West suburb.
-
Now there are about 15 thousand
residences in that area.
-
That's what they did up there.
-
There were lots of explosions over there.
-
Oh man, when they were building there,
everyday it was like,
-
BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM.
-
And that's what lived through right here.
-
We've had this problem in our
area for 14 years.
-
Houses deteriorate because of runoff and
underground water flow
-
caused by excessive construction
in the New West suburb.
-
It has been disturbing us but we haven't
-
gotten the attention
we deserve from the state.
-
We demand that the state,
-
and we demand that the City of Medellin,
-
gotten the attention
we deserve from the state.
-
seeing as the was damage caused
-
by excessive construction
in the New West suburb,
-
where the city has
put it's population growth.
-
We ask for help in the
recovery of our neighborhood
-
being that we've been here for 50 years
and that we want to stay here.
-
There is a social fabric here,
there are roots here,
-
and the City of Medellin isn't
taking this into account.
-
They say, "Leave the neighborhood."
-
But we say that we're going to stay here.
-
Or build good apartments here, big ones,
where we can fit our lives.
-
But these little apartments, they only
have 2 bedrooms, you understand?
-
We have the right to a dignified life and
they should respect our wishes.
-
We want to regain our rights,
since we've lost them.
-
We demand our neighborhood's recovery.
We breathe peace and tranquility here.
-
No more evictions. We were born here,
and we will stay here.
-
We don't want discrimination
in our neighborhood.
-
Don't violate our rights.
-
We demand the right to a dignified home.
-
We don't want more evictions
in the La Cascada neighborhood.
-
We want to continue being the same unified
neighborhood that we've always been.
-
We want to stay in our neighborhoods,
in our homes.
-
They need to respect that right.
-
We want to stay in our neighborhood,
where we were born and raised.
-
The problem they caused needs a just
solution. And no more evictions.
-
We are not displaced, and we do not
want to become displaced.
-
We have the right to put the pieces
of the puzzle back together.
-
It got messed up by large corporations
that came and, from one day to the next,
-
managed to destroy our community,
-
When the eyes of the world are upon us,
the government listens to us.
-
When these eyes are no longer on us,
the government goes blind.
-
"I've never seen you.
I don't remember you.
-
We've never discussed this. Leave a
message with my assistant.
-
Etc., etc., etc."
-
If you come here late at night,
you'll see there is no thievery going on.
-
There are no break ins. You can leave for
a month, and no one will touch your house.
-
You come back and everything
is like you left it.
-
In other parts of town, you go there
at night and you'll get robbed.
-
This is a really good neighborhood to
live in. It's great for raising a family.
-
That's why we're fighting.
So that they don't kick us out.
-
We don't know if this area could be
declared a priority interest
-
so the state could immediately make
the necessary investments,
-
But we also have to think about how
we could guarantee that it get done
-
with the lowest possible
impact on the residents.
-
We should uproot as few families
as possible, even temporarily.
-
How is this accomplished?
-
ThIs is a situation that needs
to be resolved by the government,
-
by local social organizations,
and by human rights groups
-
in order to undertake an analysis
and come to an agreement
-
with this community to decide what is
best to guarantee their rights to a home,
-
their rights to human development,
their rights to social development,
-
and the right to the roots
they have in this area.
-
We are few, but we are united.
-
And united we are strong.
-
And with that strength,
we will fight for our neighborhood.
-
Yes we can! Yes we can!
-
We are the future of our neighborhood!