Census takers completed about half of the questionnaire before conducting the survey. Ang 300 agents assigned to record data in Los Hornos mega-take know that all homes are made of sheet metal or wood, have no documentation and lack basic services.

Although the census method may reveal one of the unknowns hidden in the greatest occupation of a territory in the entire Province of Buenos Aires, with 160 acres intended for more than two years: how many people live in this informal community located just outside La Plata, 20 minutes from the seat of provincial government.

The former Gliders Club is now a settlement of unrecorded dimensions. Operations in that area of ​​Los Hornos (one of the busiest towns in the municipality of La Plata) will reveal data that will put numbers in this work which started slowly on February 18, 2020 and hasn’t stopped until now.

Census protocols have not been easy to accommodate the irregularity of Los Hornos ’“ mega takeover ”. Until more than 25 months ago, the area was a massive wasteland, with semi-abandoned cages and some bathed in uneven lawn.

This will be a simple procedure for taking the census: at a glance and with an X in a box on the form, the entire sector is analyzed.

But the view of the place now has a different relief. A messy diagram of improvised lanes, all dirt, aimed at responding to vague cartographic regulations and hundreds of boxes made of wood, sheet metal or cardboard. There are approximately 60 blocks grouped in the line surrounding streets 76 to 83; from 142 to 155.

Had to make a pre-sampling to check the number of agents to be sent to take the Census of 2022. “We have worked with the Ministry of Community Development, Gendarmerie and community leaders, to guarantee the safety of the census takers and the response of the neighbors”, explained sa Clarion the provincial director of Statistics, Diego Rusansky, who is the main connection of operations in Buenos Aires.

The rapprochement of “community resources”, the officer admitted. They assisted nearly 300 operators who, between 9:00 and 12:30, toured every corner of these lands.

The acquisition census

Clarion talked to three census takers assigned to that location. “People are treated right. lahat pala very attentive and we have no problem ”, said Alejandra, a radiology technician who joined the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) device. “In my case, the 22 voting booths I visited occupied by the people of Paraguayanall heads of families said they were construction workers and the average was four people per household ”, recalled the census takeer.

“I was lost. It was like half an hour looking for the place that touched me. He had addresses -85 and 148- but he didn’t know how to find it. They guided me until I arrived,” said Celeste (21), a Nursing student at the National University of La Plata (UNLP) who was part of the team.

There are items in the questionnaire that seem redundant in the former Glider Club. No shelter has sewer, drinking water or “formal” electricity service. Neither title. There the property is registered with a presence in the area. There is no other valid document proving ownership.

Each pollster was assigned approximately 20 or 25 houses. “I met two who completed the questionnaire digitally. And also others who told me they had internet service ”, surprised Milagros (20), a psychology student at UNLP who also wore a bib to contribute to the X-ray population of that Los Hornos field.

Legal and political battle

Irregular occupation of larger properties in the Province is also plagued by political controversies and legal disputes.

Just over a month ago, federal judge Alejo Ramos Padilla decided to file a lawsuit investigating the seizure of that space, considering that there are no prohibitions in that maneuver -among other reasons- because it was done without violence and in the sun.

The complaint was filed by La Plata mayor Julio Garro (Together in Change), weeks after lots in the former Planeadores began to fill up. There is even a record of marketing in these spaces through social networks.

In the resolution, the judge understood that “at the time of the events, the property was in an idle state and most of its extension lacked a fence or perimeter fence that would protect it from possible intrusions.” Thus, Ramos Padilla decided that the investigation should be stopped “because the facts that resulted in it were not a crime, as set out in article 195, second paragraph, of the National Code of Criminal Procedure.”

The opinion immediately provoked a reaction in the political sectors and everyone pointed to the Province. It was that the government of Axel Kicillof decided to merge a urbanization proposal -and invited the Municipality to intervene- which he left in charge of the Ministry of Community Development.

Provincial officials talked to “territorial” leaders to set a quota of occupants. But the final number is not clear. Work has been extended, streets have been opened and little more progress has been made on the project.

The former Glider Club has become part of almost 260 communities scattered in several corners of the La Plata districtaccording to a survey by the Catholic University of La Plata.

The 2022 Census does not change its status as illegal, although a complete map of housing and population has been drawn. Only the exact number of people living the best they can in that extension of territory, amidst scarcity and precariousness, will be known.

The Silver. Correspondent

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