Hundreds of families are being evicted from a half-built, 45-storey skyscraper that dominates the Caracas skyline and is often called the world's tallest slum.
Members of the Venezuelan National Guard carry residents' belongings into a truck outside the Tower of David (seen in the background)Reuters
Venezuelan soldiers and officials have begun moving residents out of the "Tower of David", which was originally intended to be a bank centre before work on it was abandoned in 1994.
Residents are being moved to new homes in the town of Cua, south of Caracas, under the state's Great Housing Mission project - a flagship policy of late socialist leader Hugo Chávez.
Maria Davila and her pet bird named Coti sit on a bus that will transport them to their new homeReuters
Evicted residents wait for a busReuters
Nicknamed after its developer, financier and horse-breeder David Brillembourg, the Tower of David was viewed by many Caracas residents as a focus for crime gangs and a symbol of property "invasions" encouraged in the Chávez era.
Squatters began occupying the unfinished building in 2007 and about 3,000 people called the tower their home.
Work was sufficiently advanced by the time construction halted for the first 28 floors to be habitable, though the squatters had to brick up dangerous open spaces and put in their own basic plumbing, electrical and water systems.
People walk along a corridor on the tenth floorJorge Silva/Reuters
Looking down on to the lobby of the Tower of DavidJorge Silva/Reuters
People look down at a basketball court inside the skyscraperJorge Silva/Reuters
Life was far from easy. Occasionally, people fell off dangerous ledges. Running water reached only the fifth floor, forcing those above to carry water by hand. There were no lifts; residents could use motorcycles to travel up and down the first ten floors but had to walk up the stairs for the remaining levels.
Residents said the building became a refuge from the city's crime-ridden 'barrios' and had turned into something of a model commune.
The vistas, however, matched those of the city's smartest high-rise buildings. "The view was so beautiful," mused caterer Robinson Alarcon, 34, who spent five years on the ninth floor and was leaving with his wife and three children.
Men rest after salvaging metal on the 30th floor of the Tower of DavidJorge Silva/Reuters
Gabriel Rivas, 30, lifts weights on a balcony on the 28th floorJorge Silva/Reuters
The Tower of David skyscraper is seen in CaracasJorge Silva/Reuters
A girl rides a bicycle on a large balconyJorge Silva/Reuters
A woman who runs a shop inside the building looks out from behind a barred service windowJorge Silva/Reuters
The building was featured an episode of US TV drama Homeland. In an episode called Tower of David, Nicholas Brody (played by Damian Lewis) was held captive and watched in horror as a gang tossed a thief off the skyscraper.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government has not yet said what it will do with the tower but one local newspaper reported Chinese banks were buying it to restore to its original purpose.
Politically, the tower was a stronghold of "Chavismo". "This is all thanks to the 'comandante'," said Carlos Francisco, 36, a plastics factory worker loading up his belongings. "First, that he let us live here. And now that he built us new homes. May he rest in peace."
Former residents of the Tower of David wait for a bus to transport them to their new homesReuters
An evicted child sits on a bus, as the building is reflected in the windowReuters
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