Resume eviction in Moravian Hill, Families Fear of Homelessness

The history of Morro de Moravia has been a struggle for the capital of Antioquia. In the late 70s and part of the 80s, the mountain was Medellin's garbage collection center. It is estimated that, during those years, the 35,000 square meters occupied by the land were filled with 1.5 million tons of garbage. As in many other dumps, little by little, some people began to populate the peripheries, until they built their improvised houses.

In 2006, Morro de Moravia was declared a site of public calamity, due to studies carried out by some universities and the Mayor's Office of Medellín, as “high levels of toxic gases” were found

Past administrations of the Mayor's Office of Medellín decided to recover the Morro, until in 2013 they managed to complete the relocation of some 1,700 families who settled there, in addition to moving the garbage, in order to turn Moravia into a garden for the city.

But, in recent years, some people decided to build again in the recovered Morro, without the authorities intervening. T he Secretariat of Management and Territorial Control stated that around 100 homes would have been rebuilt in the sector.

For this reason, in November of last year, the Secretary of Government of Medellín, Esteban Restrepo, announced that these new buildings would be evicted, in eight days, where the houses would be demolished. Faced with this pronouncement, leaders of the settlement filed a guardianship to prevent the eviction from taking effect. This led to the 8th Municipal Civil Execution Court of Medellín issuing a ruling suspending the eviction.

Then, again, the court forced the mayor's office to conduct a census of the inhabitants, characterize them and include them in the municipality's housing programs. This led the administration to appeal the decision, arguing that the Administrative Department for Disaster Risk Management, DAGRD, and the Medellín Secretariat of the Environment, warned of an imminent risk due to the presence of gases and waste that remained housed in Morro de Moravia.

Faced with this argument, the court reversed its decision and announced that the mayor's office will be able to resume evictions, since the villagers are not being violated any fundamental rights. On the contrary, they are protecting their lives, this taking into account that, they are living in a risk zone.

But, the ruling stressed to the Mayor's Office of Medellín, that it must continue with the characterization of the families in the area, and also, it will have to continue with the relocation processes.

The media outlet El Colombiano pointed out that one of the problems that this decision will face is that, while the court was making the decision, several people continued to build and plot areas in Morro de Moravia, which is why, the figures that previously reported about 100 houses today could be much more.

This is in addition to multiple allegations that there were armed groups, which were allegedly issuing building permits or licenses. In addition, this has triggered serious security problems. Also, some families have expressed concern that the mayor's office has not included them in the relocation plan and fear that they will not be added, since the decree covers the constructions that have been carried out since 2021.

The latter, because families who took advantage of the previous relocation plan, have not yet resolved their situation. These people, again, have decided to return and build their homes, even though they have already been evicted from there.

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