Prestes Maia, the building

Prestes Maia, is a colossal abandoned clothes factory that towers over central Sao Paulo, and the biggest occupation of Latin America, with 22 storeys in total, is home to 468 families; around 2,000 people from the MSTC (Downtown Homeless Movement).

The owners of the building, Jorge Hamuche and Eduardo Amorim, who do not possess the title deed, abandoned the building for twenty years and owe close to BRL$5 million (EUR$1.8 million) in taxes.

Despite this, the judge of the 25th Civil Jurisdiction of Sao Paulo granted an injunction for the repossession of the property, ignoring the residential rights of the occupants and even a UN report that declares; "the municipal government of Sao Paulo, through the Secretaria de Habitação e Desenvolvimento Urbano and COHAB, should promote the renovation of the Prestes Maia building for housing and social interests, to meet the objective of the dispossession of the building by the municipality."

But after february 15th, 2006, the people must leave the building, and they won't, and I'm afraid there will be a lot of violence there, by the military police. The authorities didn't plan a project to remove everybody, and we know that they will return to live at the streets. We are trying to stop this, and to pressure the state governor Geraldo Alckmin and the mayor from the city José Serra, to make first a project, and then remove the families.
Please, help us signing this on-line petition, spread this.
www.petitiononline.com/pmaia911/

Por favor, leia o link acima (em português), divulgue e clique para assinar.
Entenda melhor o Prestes Maia e os seus moradores:
prestesmaia.weblogger.terra.com.br/

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Copyright © 2006 Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.