Chile’s Shantytowns Are a Last Resort — and Growing Fast

When visitors first arrive at Flor de Población in Chile’s Atacama desert, they’re greeted by automated metal gates meant to keep strangers and thieves outside. But it isn’t the country’s ultra wealthy guarded behind those boundaries. To the contrary, the occupants are some of Chile’s poorest — and they’re there illegally.

Flor de Población is what Chileans call a “toma,” or landgrab, because it’s built on seized property. The homes within are hastily built using whatever materials are around. The walls are mostly plywood, and zinc panels are stitched together as roofs. It’s eerily quiet on a Sunday afternoon in April, while just outside the gate speakers from cars and on sidewalks blare out a mix of reggaeton, cumbia and Mexican corridos. Cars zoom by, lifting clouds of dust. Stray dogs wander, scavenging for food in piles of trash. Street vendors hawk their goods under tarps to guard them from the desert sun.