The Tower of David in Caracas, Venezuela - in pictures

The Tower of David was intended to be a shining addition to the financial centre of Caracas but was abandoned in 1994 after the death of its developer. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Squatters invaded the building in 2007. Then-president Hugo Chavez's socialist government turned a blind eye. Here a mother and son watch TV as they sit on their bed in their 24th floor apartment. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Children play in the corridors - about 3,000 people call the building home Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Men look down at a basketball court. The building has been called the world's tallest vertical slum Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Men salvage metal on the 30th floor. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A man sits with his family in his apartment. Only 28 of the tower’s 45 floors are inhabited. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A woman talks on the telephone and drinks coffee as she sits under a crack in the roof of her living room on the 27th floor. The first people in the building spent months sleeping in tents, but today almost everything is made out of bricks in a makeshift fashion Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A man cooks in his apartment. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Teenagers chat on the 10th floor. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A woman packs as she prepare to leave her apartment after living in the skyscraper for almost a year. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A girl rides a bicycle on a balcony. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A woman looks out of a window at her shop in a corridor in the skyscraper. Inside the building there are warehouses, clothing stores, beauty parlours and day-care centres Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

A man lifts weights on a balcony on the 28th floor, overlooking the centre of Caracas Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Men rest after salvaging metal on the 30th floor. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

The skyscraper towers over central Caracas. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters