Don Omar´s bed of roses, who together with his wife has 11 years living in that room, located on the top of one of the buildings in El Bronx, on the famous street “L”. Known for its terrifying stories about “houses of torture”, kidnappings, tortures, protitution and one of the largest drugs sales in the city of Bogotá. Don Omar and his wife managed to keep for now their home as begging the police officers and after proving that they are not drug addicts, police allowed them to stay, but in pre
“What remains to me is steal and steal”, this is what one of the homeless says now that resides in alley “Cinco Huecos”, where the police officers have them cornered, waiting for what to do with them.
The operative made in "El Bronx" starts on May 28th where state authorities intervened by surprise, finding there signs of violent crimes and tunnels of over 100m used for illicit activities of criminal gangs, in these operatives more than 2,000 police officers and 180 members of the army participated. In some of the rooms signs of dismemberment were found, using tanks of acid to disappear the bodies or dogs trained to eat the residues, according to some testimonies of people who lived there, some were eaten alive in way of torture by dogs trained only to kill. The police officers had to sacrifice these dogs because they were extremely violent.
Police officers state "if not for the complaint of some parents and the article in the newspaper "El Tiempo" about minors from some wealthy families that got into the "L", would never had put an eye over these brutal cases that were discovered there". Cases that since over 10 years ago were occurring there, at the end of the operatives came to light thousands of cases of kidnappings, disappearances and sex trafficking of minors in which apparently there were also envolved some officers of the National Police. There was talk of around 2,000 people were found at the moment of the operative of which 149 were minors that were rescued from this place by the Police of Children and Adolescents together with the members of ICBF (Colombian Institute of Family Welfare). Some of the residents are not drug addicts, in most cases are recyclers who arrived there long before the "Sayayines" for economic dwellings. Now they have to go with their families to live once again in the tough streets of Bogota.
In an interview on Red+Noticias the Mayor of Bogotá Enrique Peñalosa says that the order for the next few weeks is to demolish all the buildings. Only a few people managed to stay in their homes because they have the deeds of the buildings, but these owners they could make a forfeiture if authorities get to see that in buildings any illegal activity committed. As is the case of Don Omar who together with his wife has 11 years living in that room, located on the top of one of the buildings. Don Omar and his wife managed to keep for now their home as begging the police officers and after proving that they are not drug addicts, police allowed them to stay. After the clearing a lot of homeless were to stop to the “Cinco Huecos” area located a few blocks from El Bronx. The district has its hands tied with these homeless since by law can not be treated in rehabilitation centers that manages the state, in the sector of “Cinco Huecos” the "Sayayines" already opperate. The “campaneros” are in charge of warn whom enters and exits with some whistles. When they see any activity or unknown person, they ring to alert all the neighborhood. “What remains to me is steal and steal”, this is what one of the homeless says now that resides in that alley. Where the police officers have them cornered, waiting for what to do with them.
Two months later
On the morning of August 10, 2016 operatives from police and firefighters accompanied by the mayor's office of Bogota started the demolition work on the recognized "El Bronx"neighborhood. The current Mayor of Bogotá Enrique Peñalosa two months ago has said publicly that after the operation ended in the area, would begin to demolish some of the houses where illegal activities were found. Some who still reside in the buildings are afraid of what would happen to them and their homes since neither the mayor's office nor the building owners have any solution about it, the only thing left is to see how what was also their home for over 40 years, now will be reduced to rubble.
These images were a contribution for different agencies and media like The City Paper Bogota, Liber Magazine, Getty Images, EFE, AFP, Pacific Press Agency, Nurphoto.