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The evicted families occupied the land after Tomás Hernández Alberto, director of the IAD, parceled it out in 2003 and nobody bothered them until ten days ago. JORGE MARTÍNEZ / LISTÍN DIARIO
Villa Mella.- The evictions carried out ten days ago in the Marañón sector, Villa Mella, left 250 families sleeping in the street, protected only by improvised tarps to protect them from the inclement weather.
To eat, the families have improvised a communal fire where they cook the food they get and share it among all of them.
The houses were destroyed using backhoes protected by dozens of police officers assisted by hooded civilians who terrorized older people, women, and children.
Wednesday, the 19th of this month, was a tragic day for the sector because, from 5:00 in the morning, they were awakened by the destruction of their houses and verbal and physical aggressions, according to Pelagio Matías. “That day, at 5:00 in the morning, the community looked like Ukraine and Russia at war. Mothers running through the bush to protect our children. That was pitiful,” explained Matías. Reporters from Listín Diario visited the area yesterday and observed hundreds of families lying on mattresses placed under a tent in the street and cooking, in a single pot, food to be shared among the villagers.
Those affected indicated that during the day, they go to the homes of their relatives to receive support and greet their children since they are no longer residing with them due to the situation. At night they return to assist each other as much as possible. “The children are living with our siblings and relatives; after these people came, we are very afraid that something will happen to them,” said Pablo, another affected person.
He also stated that the children were traumatized after the injustices and required psychological assistance.
“These children wake up in the wee hours of the morning scared, just saying, here come the hooded men. They will need assistance,” said Pablo. The result is that several people have been injured, and families have had their houses completely demolished.
Its realy sad for poor people / families but they brought it up by themselves…their action ended in government reaction. They ILEGALLY ocupied the land at first place and as a consequence ruined other people life. People should know thst there is NO FREE LUNCH sfter all.
I understand that they might needed to be move out of the area but going in at 5am with masked men is wrong. Maybe do it during normal hours to allow people to collect their belongings and protect their kids. No need for masked men if they had the police there to represent the state or whoever was the owner of the land.
Wearing masks is self-protection so you don’t have people trying to injure you because you had a job to do. It’s a rational precaution in many places including the DR.
they’ve been warned on numerous occasions…and they bluntly refused , they were even aggressive toward people who were sent to tell them to vacate …they knew this was coming …all over DR you’ll see people moving into property of others …they don’t care
in daylight problems will arise …they were half-arz asleep …authorities saved many lives with early raid …
This is a tragic symptom and result of poverty that nobody wants to find the remedy other than brutally throw people into the streets. The $billions stolen from the national treasury via the scandals could have been used to educate, create jobs, and provide housing for the disenfranchised.
Has government ever thought of tent cities on government lands to house the poor? Forget stereotyped vision of them. Tent cities with communal kitchens, health services, markets, schools, and gov’t agencies. They may not be pretty but will serve a good social and economic purpose while keeping the folk from invading private lands.