Puerta de Hierro for Amnesty International Madrid

Last week I began documenting the roma community of Puerta de Hierro in Madrid for Amnesty International Madrid. Puerta de Hierro is one of the oldest settlements in Madrid, dating back to the early 1960s. In the last months the local administration started tearing down most of the buildings on the areal. For Amnesty International it is a gross violation of human rights, houses are pulled down without any judicial degree, without informing the dwellers, without offering achievable alternatives for the families, and, worst of all, without considering the health of women and children, who are suffering the most. Victims: 300 persons, 70 children, waiting for the next shock seeing police forces and wrecking balls in their courtyards. A few months ago, the UN sent an envoy to evaluate of the situation at Puerta de Hierro, meanwhile, the authorities defend the legality of the operations… The pictures show Facundo, the patriarch of the family, his daughter Milagros, who lost her family house and most of her belongings, the closest family members of Facundo moments before leaving to the hospital where Facundo had to undergo cardiac surgery, children at the “culto”, the evangelical mess celebrated by Justo, the preacherman of Puerta de Hierro, taking place every evening; then Laura with her sick daughter Nayara and Víctor, her father, with his grandson Cristian and one of his beloved little birds…