The social and economic chaos stalking Venezuela is ripping apart its once-enviable school system, robbing poor students of what would otherwise be their best chance to escape lives fast becoming unbearable. The late President Hugo Chavez made education a centerpiece of his socialist revolution, using the riches from a historic boom in the price of oil to train teachers and distribute free laptops, but in just a few years, all of that progress has been undone.
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Venezuelan soldiers and officials began moving hundreds of families Tuesday out of a half-built 45-story skyscraper that dominates the Caracas skyline and is thought to be the world’s tallest slum.
The mass eviction from the “Tower of David,” originally intended to be a bank center but abandoned since 1994 and later home to some 3,000 needy Venezuelans, proceeded peacefully.
“Necessity brought me here, and the tower gave me a good home,” said Yuraima Parra, 27, cradling her baby daughter as soldiers loaded her possessions into a truck before dawn.
“I was here for seven years. I’m going to miss it, but it’s time to move on.”
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