fot. Damian D Fossi Salas, wikimedia, CC 2.0

They turned a shopping centre into… prison. The extraordinary story of El Helicoide

There could hardly be a more telling example of Venezuela’s decline than El Helicoide in the capital. Developed back in the Jimenez junta era, the project was to be Venezuela’s most luxurious and impressive commercial centre. A hotel, cinemas, boutiques and a heliport would have showcased the country’s oil wealth to the world. However, government instability and crises buried the project for years. To the even greater misfortune of the suffering nation, in the 21st century President Maduro turned the unusual edifice into… a prison for political enemies.

A demonstration tower of Babel

In 1948, a military junta seized power in Venezuela by way of a putsch. After a few years, dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez emerged from the upheaval. Of course, this event was not without election rigging and oppression of the political opposition. Jimenez embarked on multi-million dollar investments in the form of highways, bridges or imposing government buildings to fuel the economy.

One of the showpiece investments of the time was the El Helicoide shopping centre, construction of which began back in 1955, with Jose Gutierrez, Pedro Neuberger and Dirk Bornhorst, who worked for a private company, in charge of the project. However, work was slow, and it took almost two years to shape the site. The building was to be built on the Roca Tarpeya hill, which had to be carved into the shape of steps. Interestingly, the area around the hill was inhabited by people living in difficult material conditions. It is worth recalling that this was at a time when Venezuela’s GDP per capita was comparable to that of Ireland.

The building was meant to be a dream come true for wealthier citizens. A 4 km long ramp leads to the various levels of the shopping centre. The six floors, extending downwards, were to house various service establishments such as: 300 boutiques, eight cinemas, swimming pools, nightclubs and a five-star hotel . On the seventh floor, the architects envisaged an aluminium geodesic dome popularised by Richard Fuller in the 1940s. The modernist showpiece was also to surprise with its level of technological sophistication. The helicopter landing pad and diagonal lifts were in themselves an indication of the project’s certain status.

It is also worth mentioning that El Helicoide was also to function as an exhibition centre. Jimenez wanted the nation’s achievements in various fields of science, industry, agriculture and the arts to be showcased inside. El Helicoide grew to become the ‘hall of the nation’. For this reason, the interesting design resembling a double helicoid (the shape of a screw surface) was to be noticeable from all over Caracas. Interestingly, Roberto Burle Marx was to be responsible for the design of the gardens and greenery on the site. Brazil’s most famous landscape architect ultimately took no part in the dictator’s venture.

Confusing the languages of politics

Another attempt by Jimenez to rig the referendum led to the end of junta rule. An opposition coup forced the dictator to flee the country, and the new government of Romulo Betancourt inherited all the chaos. It is worth noting that the period of the dictatorship was marked by surprisingly high economic growth, but after the 1958 coup it became apparent that the country was in unimaginable external and internal debt. Fortunately, Venezuela did not go bankrupt thanks to steady profits from oil production.

Immediately after the fall of the dictatorship, there were some hopes for the completion of El Helicoide. A helping, businesslike hand was extended by the Americans, who in 1961 offered to help finance the investment. The project was even exhibited at New York’s MoMA as an example of modern and ambitious Venezuelan architecture. However, despite the offer of help, the money did not go to the construction company due to legal problems.

public domain photo

The flagship project, which was built under the previous government, began to face financial problems. A private investor went into debt to the state, which in time resulted in the Venezuelan government taking over the facility. By the 1960s, the facility was deteriorating and its imported equipment was stolen. In the 1980s, on the other hand, the authorities gradually began to complete the building. The first to move into the building was the Directorate of National Intelligence, DISP (Dirección Nacional de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención). The government office also carried out activities to prevent further subversions. By the 1990s, several of the lower floors had been finished, and in 1992… bombs fell on the building. The raid was carried out by the rebellious troops of Hugo Chavez’s revolutionaries. This time it was a leftist coup that was to take over Venezuela.

From dictatorship to dictatorship

The 1992 coup ended with Chavez’s arrest. The extreme left voted for Chavez, but so did a section of the right, longing for the Jimenez dictatorship. The president ruled for four terms, which negatively affected Venezuela’s economy. In 2013. Chavez died and the economic collapse evolved under his successor, Nicolas Maduro. It was under his rule that misery spread throughout the country. Interestingly, it is also at this point in the country’s history that the case of El Helicoide comes up. Maduro turned the building into an infamous prison. As reported in the media, the conditions in the cells are atrocious and torture is a daily occurrence for the inmates.

El Helicoide is by far the most ambitious and showpiece symbol of the country’s decline, which has been unable to find peace for decades. Jimenez’s ambitions came at a price, and subsequent events in Venezuelan history have effectively buried the project. The modernist work could have been one of the most impressive examples of architecture of the period, a symbol of the entire country. Although it must be admitted that there is something intriguing about the monumental prison of another dictator of the ‘land of grace’.

Source: BBC

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