Safeguarding history in Caracas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8273388.stm

Version 0 of 1.

By Will Grant BBC News, Caracas Petare is one of the few preserved areas of Caracas

Stepping out of the Caracas metro system at Petare is something of an assault on the senses.

Hundreds of street vendors or "buhoneros" are selling everything from fake designer underwear to cold drinks and pirate DVDs.

A mixture of pungent smells, traffic noise and shouting greets your arrival into what is one of the city's most notorious districts.

Part of its notoriety comes from the violence.

Official figures say there are around 130 murders per 100,000 population in Caracas, and Petare includes the neighbourhood of Jose Felix Ribas, widely considered to be the biggest and one of the most dangerous shanty towns in Latin America.

But just a few streets north of the metro, there is calm amid the chaos.

Around the Plaza Sucre, in the shade of the mango and palm trees, it is hard to tell this is the most densely populated district in the capital. Cobbled streets wind around an 18th Century church, an original parish house and a host of colonial buildings dotted around the square.

Buildings are a representation of who we are and Petare is a whole world unto itself Karina Zavarce

"This is the pretty part of Petare," says local resident Hilda de Cardenas, who has lived in a narrow street called Callejon Zeta all her life.

"I don't mean to say that new buildings can't be nice too if they're done properly, but the historic town is important because it reminds us of our roots."

Hilda may be in her sixties, but she is still keen to learn new things.

Sitting out in a plastic chair with her neighbours, she is taking part in a workshop on how to mix cement and repair damaged walls so that the original facades to her home can be kept in decent condition.

For Hilda, the project is about honouring the past.

"I've lived here, so has my mother, my grandmother before her," she says.

"We all lived in the casco viejo [old town] of Petare and, although they're gone, in a way this helps us to remember them."

'Critical work'

Caracas is not like Buenos Aires, Mexico City or Bogota in terms of its colonial heritage.

Building work is often unplanned and historically unsympathetic

As oil money began to flow in Venezuela during the 1960s and 70s, what little original architecture that remained was removed to make way for gleaming skyscrapers and modern apartment blocks.

There are just a few areas in which the 18th and 19th Century buildings have been preserved, such as El Hatillo in the south-east of the capital.

But many consider such places to be more like tourist attractions than real neighbourhoods.

According to Karina Zavarce from the cultural NGO the Bigott Foundation, it would be a mistake to turn Petare's historic town into a theme park.

"It's really of critical importance to conserve this area. Today this is the only completely colonial nucleus in the city," she says.

"There are other historic parts of Caracas but they have not been preserved in the way in which people lived two centuries ago.

The laws exist, but it's easy to get around them Alex Ojeda

"I wouldn't want to call them fake, but they have certainly been restored with different, more commercial purposes in mind. Here we want to hold on to the traditions of this sector."

But preserving the area is not easy. Walking past one colonial building, a group of men are adding a hastily-assembled second floor on top of the original architecture in breach of local planning laws - laws which are rarely enforced.

"Sights like that break my heart!" says Alex Ojeda, cultural coordinator of the Jose Angel Lamas Foundation, which also works in Petare.

"The laws exist, but it's easy to get around them. We need better efforts by the authorities to clamp down on this kind of thing.

"They need to make sure that if people are going to add extensions to their buildings, then they do so using the right materials and in keeping with the rest of the area. If not, there should be fines."

'Potholes and rubbish'

Mr Ojeda and his colleagues believe the preservation of Petare cannot be done through the buildings alone.

They also organise cultural events such as dance, theatre and art exhibitions involving local artists and musical groups.

There is a raucous noise coming from the Cesar Rengifo Theatre as a music class for schoolchildren is in full swing. Nearby the Museum of Popular Art is setting up for an exhibition of Venezuelan sculptors, several of whom come from the municipality.

Here, you don't know when you leave your house if you're going to come home alive or end up in a morgue Street vendor

But there are only 28 blocks of Petare's old town, compared to the hundreds of blocks of red brick shacks which line the district's steep hillsides.

Some residents have voiced criticism that so much money and effort is focused on one small portion of an area which is in serious need of investment and support.

"This is all well and good," said one street vendor watching a dance event outside the metro organised by the Jose Angel Lamas Foundation, "but Petare has many things which need fixing".

"There are potholes in the streets, there is rubbish, but above all they need to focus on the crime. Because here, you don't know when you leave your house if you're going to come home alive or end up in a morgue."

For Ms Zavarce, the conservation work is about much more than the architecture.

"Buildings are a representation of who we are, and Petare is a whole world unto itself," she says.

"Petare was just recently connected to the city - 50 years ago, this was rural.

"We really didn't belong to this massive urban movement. So, here you can find this contrast. You can feel here that you are in an absolutely different place, one which is not really Caracas at all."