Venezuela's vertical slum may be demolished

[CARACAS] An abandoned Caracas skyscraper dubbed the world's tallest shanty-town after a squatters' takeover could be demolished once its inhabitants are out, Venezuela's leader said on Wednesday.

Soldiers and officials began this week moving out the first 160 of more than 1,150 families living inside the 45-storey "Tower of David" in central Caracas. They are going to government-provided low-income housing outside the capital. "The Tower of David is famous. It's a symbol of a strange situation, a vertical barrio (neighbourhood)," President Nicolas Maduro said. "It was viewed negatively by society. We resolved it, as these things should be resolved, with dialogue and understanding."

Originally intended to be a bank centre, but left unfinished in 1994, the vast concrete skeleton was viewed by many Venezuelans as a focus for crime and symbol of property "invasions". Police occasionally raided it hunting kidnappers.