Casas tomadas recovered in the city

[mageesa]

I always wonder about doomers and libertarians thinking that Argentina is going to be a hospitable place for them.
Argentina as we know it, after it was abandoned by the Spaniards due to its lack of Silver and Gold, was settled by left wing workers from Spain and Italy, along with eastern european jews.
All believed strongly in collective action, and socialism.
The big events that shaped the country included the city wide strike, in 1919, instigated by Italian and Jewish anarchist blacksmiths working at the Vasena factory on La Rioja near Boedo.
The two biggest trade Unions at that time, both of which dated to the 1870s, were the Socialists and the Anarchists.
1500 workers died in those riots, over 200,000 people went on strike.
There is one narrative that claims Peron, who was a lieutenant stationed 4 blocks away, made his bones by ordering his men to shoot the strikers- whether or not that is true, his actions during the Semana Tragica began Peron's rise to power, and it reinforced the reality that no government could succeed here without including the extreme left wing workers.
That means the history of workers housing, collective bargaining, union sponsored vacation hotels, football clubs, and cultural centers, and it led, in the eyes of the populace, to the largest and most thriving middle class in South America, in the fifties and sixties.
So the undercurrents here have never been the individual ornery scots-irish loner culture of the USA, which produced the gun waving libertarians and MAGA.
Argentina is about communities supporting each other, and social services, public health care, public universities, and similar institutions are what people here want.
The idea that Argentines are going to "defend" property, as opposed to support each other, is non-starter here.

I wish it weren't true, but I think that ship has sailed. Some of the most popular stories in the news are jubilados defending their houses against robbers, even shooting them in the back as they flee. There's so much mockery of the left on social media, and part of it is probably bots; but Milei did win with that sort of rhetoric. I never see young people offer their bus seats to old people, like they did fifteen years ago. Going MAGA is what they can do to rebel against their parents generation.

 

[zensailor]

Napoleonic Code refers to the French Civil Code or 1804, which was an attempt to write a set of coherent laws to replace the feudal laws that previously dominated France which were erratic, local, and favored royalty.
Napoleon, himself, didnt write any of it, though he helped shepard it into existence.
When Bolivar started the series of revolutions against the Spanish that eventually resulted in Argentina as a country, he, being more sympathetic to French Revolutionaries than Spanish Kings, started a trend of basing new legal systems on the French Civil Code, and much of the initial Argentine legal system was based on it as well.

There are still a lot of 17th century French ideas and processes in Argentine law.

But the idea of squatters is a very 20th century thing, and its common in many places- all across Europe, in NYC or most of South America, as well as in parts of Asia and Africa.
Large scale squats were very common in NYC and Berlin since the 60s, and many were caused by buildings being abandoned by landlords, with extensive back taxes due.
Famous and memorable squats include Freetown Christiana in Copenhagen, thriving since 1971, the occupation of Torre de David in Caracas, which was a $100 million dollar unfinished skyscraper squatted by 1500 families, the Starrett Lehigh Building in NYC, or ST. Agnes Place in London.
So a lot of Cities, globally, have made agreements with squatters, allowing ownership, or at least legal residency.
In Argentina, the Villas date back to before the Second World War- Barrio Padre Carlos Mugica, which used to be Villa 31, was founded in 1932, and it houses 40,000 people, who build their own homes, and, informally, have been able to rent, and even sell them, for decades.
The City long ago gave up on forcibly removing most squatters and villas. An estimated 200,000 people live in villas inside the City limits, who, by definition, are squatters.
On a smaller scale, though, it would be possible to evict individual squatters from privately owned single family apartments, but this government, like all its predecessors, has not had the political will to do this, which, unless they spent heavily to offer replacement housing, would undoubtedly trigger large demonstrations.
The history of the Recuperados, the businesses that were taken over by workers after the Coralito, is a similar story- business owners defaulted on taxes and debts, leaving vacant factories, and the workers refused to stop working- over a 1000 factories at first. Now, 25 years later, a couple of hundred of them are still worker owned and run co-ops, and they are pretty interwoven into the fabric of Argentine life.
Police action to evict squatters is not going to be a popular idea here, and politicians know that.
There have even been popular television comedies about squatters- Okupas was recently revived on Netflix, and its portrayal of squatters is funny and normal, not as evil anarchist criminals.

Don't persecute the squatters ... persecute the owners who have neglected and abandoned the properties at the expense of their neighborhood and neighbors ... nobody owes them any assistance in pursuit of their own greed ... take care of your property ... if you refuse, then title should pass to an entity that can address the owners lack of concern and maintain neighborhood integrity... it has been addressed in many forms ... seems to work on a smaller scale ... once it becomes large scale, it attracts the "grave dancers" and they walk away with their pockets full and the neighborhood no better off.

 

[mageesa]

whether they are legal or not, I sure am a lot happier not constantly seeing geriatrics packing heat. I constantly see elderly males with firearms at the home depot, or tractor supply, in my rural USA agricultural county where I live half time.
These guys, who are undoubtedly on several kinds of prescription medications, are armed and ready in the hardware store, walmart, or gas station.
In the USA, several times a year, guys (its always men) shoot themselves accidentally on the toilet when their gun falls out of their trousers...
One of the things I like about Argentina is the lack of open carry.
I feel a lot safer.

My father's partner had to permanently hide his guns when his Alzheimer's started ramping up. She only told us after he died how afraid she was. He would see strangers that weren't there around sundown. I remember as a curious child coming across his pistol in a drawer; rifles and shotguns were just hanging on the wall. I'm happy to live somewhere where guns don't outnumber people.

 

[FrankPintor]

Don't persecute the squatters ... persecute the owners who have neglected and abandoned the properties at the expense of their neighborhood and neighbors ... nobody owes them any assistance in pursuit of their own greed ... take care of your property ... if you refuse, then title should pass to an entity that can address the owners lack of concern and maintain neighborhood integrity... it has been addressed in many forms ... seems to work on a smaller scale ... once it becomes large scale, it attracts the "grave dancers" and they walk away with their pockets full and the neighborhood no better off.

That's an interesting perspective, and one I like. Abandoned city property, even without squatters) does nothing for a neighbourhood, with the constant building deterioration, windows falling out, rats moving in, rubbish accumulating, property taxes not being paid (my assumption, but I think a valid one), not to mention the visual impact. Having squatters doesn't change much of that, maybe?

I wonder what CABA thinks it will get out of these evictions? Are they going to do up the properties? Do they expect property taxes to suddenly be paid? Far better a compulsory purchase procedure, with some funds retained for any squatters.

 

[zensailor]

That's an interesting perspective, and one I like. Abandoned city property, even without squatters) does nothing for a neighbourhood, with the constant building deterioration, windows falling out, rats moving in, rubbish accumulating, property taxes not being paid (my assumption, but I think a valid one), not to mention the visual impact. Having squatters doesn't change much of that, maybe?

I wonder what CABA thinks it will get out of these evictions? Are they going to do up the properties? Do they expect property taxes to suddenly be paid? Far better a compulsory purchase procedure, with some funds retained for any squatters.

We have to ask ourselves ... " What would Studs Terkel do ? "

 

[ArgentinaVet]

Interesting...I thought I had read somewhere that legitimate use was limited to professions (security guards, police, etc.) and that civilian home defense was not considered sufficient.

The current system allows for holders of CLU "use civil condicional" to purchase as many firearms as they would like of any calibre with no magazine size restrictions. Currently rifles may only be bolt action (although a new decree allows AR15 style semi automatic rifles after having held a CLU for 5 years+) but pistol calibre weapons may be semi automatic with the previously mentioned no magazine size restrictions. Acceptable uses for civilians are sport/competitive shooting, hunting, and home defense.

 

[LuckyLuke]

I wonder what CABA thinks it will get out of these evictions? Are they going to do up the properties? Do they expect property taxes to suddenly be paid? Far better a compulsory purchase procedure, with some funds retained for any squatters.

The owner family can sell it to a willing buyer who will, depending on the condition of home, repair or rebuild.

Abandoned property (where there is no heir to the property or paperwork to connect a rightful owner) eventually is auctioned by the municipality.

 

[LuckyLuke]

whether they are legal or not, I sure am a lot happier not constantly seeing geriatrics packing heat. I constantly see elderly males with firearms at the home depot, or tractor supply, in my rural USA agricultural county where I live half time.
These guys, who are undoubtedly on several kinds of prescription medications, are armed and ready in the hardware store, walmart, or gas station.
In the USA, several times a year, guys (its always men) shoot themselves accidentally on the toilet when their gun falls out of their trousers...
One of the things I like about Argentina is the lack of open carry.
I feel a lot safer.

I agree, I think Argentina strikes a good balance. The right to own without the right to carry. Moreover the license expires every 5 years and renewal requires a psychological exam. One of the interesting differences I found between Los Angeles and San Antonio,TX was that nobody used their car horns in San Antonio. This was because it was commonly known that many drivers were carrying in their glove box and that, unlike Los Angeles, road rage often involved more than a loose baseball bat.

 

[on the brink]

About vacant buildings.... Many are "in sucesion" - the owner has died and the inheritors don't have title to the property.

So, persecute the legal system, which takes decades to settle a succession.

My grandmother's estate was simple - no problems among heirs - and it still took fourteen years to work its way through Tribunales.

 

[zensailor]

About vacant buildings.... Many are "in sucesion" - the owner has died and the inheritors don't have title to the property.

So, persecute the legal system, which takes decades to settle a succession.

My grandmother's estate was simple - no problems among heirs - and it still took fourteen years to work its way through Tribunales.

That's where you start .... follow the money