Police officers patrol outside a court as former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Police officers stand guard outside a court as former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, and his lawyers Andreas Kerkhof and Dirk Kruse attend the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, and his lawyers Andreas Kerkhof and Dirk Kruse attend the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, and his lawyers Andreas Kerkhof and Dirk Kruse attend the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, and his lawyers Andreas Kerkhof and Dirk Kruse attend the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, gestures as he attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

Former Reemtsma-kidnapper Thomas Drach, who is accused of robberies on cash transports and attempted murder, gestures as he attends the start of his trial at a court in Cologne, Germany, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen 

A protester holds a sign reading "The biggest kidnapper is Digicel" during a protest about rising costs of phone service, as Haitians mount a nationwide strike to protest a growing wave of kidnappings, days after the abduction of a group of missionaries, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 18, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol 

A man wears a shirt reading "he is not a kidnapper, he is not a thief" in protest of an arrest made last week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 17, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, speaks to the media at the end of an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, leaves at the end of an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, embraces Diana Daza, during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

Francisco de Roux, President of the Truth Commission, reacts as he listens Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, embraces Roberto Lacouture, during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, embraces Francisco de Roux, President of the Truth Commission, during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, embraces Francisco de Roux, President of the Truth Commission, during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, reacts as she speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, reacts as she speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, reacts as she speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, removes her protective mask to speak during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, speaks during an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Armando Acuna, former FARC hostage, hands over some books that he read during his captivity to Carlos Antonio Lozada during an act of recognition with the participation of his kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Carlos Cortes, son of the journalist Guillermo 'La Chiva' Cortes, and Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, embrace as they attend an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Francisco de Roux, President of the Truth Commission, and Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, embrace as they attend an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and former FARC hostage, attends an act of recognition with the participation of her kidnappers and their now political party Comunes, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez 

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte look at weapons confiscated from kidnappers (not pictured) in Davao city in the southern Philippines July 11, 2013. Picture taken July 11, 2013. To match Special Report PHILIPPINES-DAVAO/MODEL REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr 

A member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force escorts Rodolfo Magleo, a former police chief inspector and convicted kidnapper during a Congressional committee hearing on the illegal drugs trade inside the National Penitentiary at the House of the Representantives in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force stand guard while Rodolfo Magleo, a former police chief inspector and convicted kidnapper, gestures during a Congressional committee hearing on the illegal drugs trade inside the National Penitentiary at the House of the Representantives in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Rodolfo Magleo, a former police chief inspector and convicted kidnapper, gestures during a Congressional committee hearing on the illegal drugs trade inside the National Penitentiary at the House of the Representantives in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

A man role-playing as a kidnapper holds onto a woman role-playing as a kidnap victim during a crisis simulation exercise conducted by Brazil's Battalion of Special Operations (BOPE) to show the media how security will be provided during the 2016 Olympics at the Golf Olympic bus station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 11, 2015. Last week's Paris killings have raised fears about the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, a country with so little history of terrorism that the president has played down the chance of an attack and legislators long resisted bills to make it a crime. Picture taken on February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A man uses a megaphone while standing in front of policemen during a protest against what the demonstrators said was corruption in the government, and the release of Woodly Etheart, who was indicted in March on charges that involved kidnapping, in Port-au-Prince, May 6, 2015. The protesters gathered in central Port-au-Prince on Wednesday to dispute the release of Etheart, who goes by the street name "Sonson La Familia", local media reported. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

Abdullah al-Khalidi shakes hands with his aunt upon his arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh March 2, 2015. Abdullah al-Khalidi, a Saudi Arabian diplomat, returned to Riyadh on Monday after being released by kidnappers in Yemen where he spent three years as a hostage, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by state media. Abdullah al-Khalidi, Saudi consul in Aden, was seized in March 2012 and later appeared as a hostage in videos released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) calling on Riyadh to do more to free him. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) 

Abdullah al-Khalidi (R) smiles as he shakes hands with spokesman of Interior Ministry of Saudi Arabia Mansour Al-Turki (L) as Prince Abdul-Aziz Bin Abdullah (C), Saudi Arabia's Deputy Foreign Minister, looks on, in Riyadh March 2, 2015. Abdullah al-Khalidi, a Saudi Arabian diplomat, returned to Riyadh on Monday after being released by kidnappers in Yemen where he spent three years as a hostage, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by state media. Abdullah al-Khalidi, Saudi consul in Aden, was seized in March 2012 and later appeared as a hostage in videos released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) calling on Riyadh to do more to free him. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) 

Hospital staff hold pictures of Shirin Makawi, a colleague they say is being held hostage with a Frenchwoman by unknown kidnappers, during a protest in Sanaa March 2, 2015. The Yemeni woman was kidnapped along with a Frenchwoman and their driver in Yemen's capital on Tuesday morning, Yemeni security sources and French authorities said. The unidentified gunmen intercepted the vehicle on 45th Street in central Sanaa and took the three people to an unknown location, the Yemeni sources said. Pictures read "Oh God, protect Shirin." Sign reads "We demand the release of the hostages Shirin and Isabel."
REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) 

Hospital staff hold pictures of Shirin Makawi, a colleague they say is being held hostage with a Frenchwoman by unknown kidnappers, during a protest in Sanaa March 2, 2015. The Yemeni woman was kidnapped along with a Frenchwoman and their driver in Yemen's capital on Tuesday morning, Yemeni security sources and French authorities said. The unidentified gunmen intercepted the vehicle on 45th Street in central Sanaa and took the three people to an unknown location, the Yemeni sources said. Pictures read "Oh God, protect Shirin." Sign reads "We demand the release of the hostages Shirin and Isabel."
REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) 

Hospital staff hold pictures of Shirin Makawi, a colleague they say is being held hostage with a Frenchwoman by unknown kidnappers, during a protest in Sanaa March 2, 2015. The Yemeni woman was kidnapped along with a Frenchwoman and their driver in Yemen's capital on Tuesday morning, Yemeni security sources and French authorities said. The unidentified gunmen intercepted the vehicle on 45th Street in central Sanaa and took the three people to an unknown location, the Yemeni sources said. Pictures read "Oh God, protect Shirin." REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) 

A man (L) role-playing as a kidnapper and people role-playing as kidnap victims participate during a crisis simulation exercise conducted by Brazil's Battalion of Special Operations (BOPE) to show the media how security will be provided during the 2016 Olympics at the Golf Olympic bus station in Rio de Janeiro February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY SPORT OLYMPICS) 

A man role-playing as a kidnapper reacts during a crisis simulation exercise conducted by Brazil's Battalion of Special Operations (BOPE) to show the media how security will be provided during the 2016 Olympics at the Golf Olympic bus station in Rio de Janeiro February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY SPORT OLYMPICS) 

A man role-playing as a kidnapper holds onto a woman role-playing as a kidnap victim during a crisis simulation exercise conducted by Brazil's Battalion of Special Operations (BOPE) to show the media how security will be provided during the 2016 Olympics at the Golf Olympic bus station in Rio de Janeiro February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY SPORT OLYMPICS) 

A man role-playing as a kidnapper holds onto a woman role-playing as a kidnap victim during a crisis simulation exercise conducted by Brazil's Battalion of Special Operations (BOPE) to show the media how security will be provided during the 2016 Olympics at the Golf Olympic bus station in Rio de Janeiro February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) 

A man role-playing as a kidnapper holds onto a woman role-playing as a kidnap victim during a crisis simulation exercise conducted by Brazil's Battalion of Special Operations (BOPE) to show the media how security will be provided during the 2016 Olympics at the Golf Olympic bus station in Rio de Janeiro February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes (BRAZIL - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) 

Arlan Fick (2nd R), son of Brazilian immigrants to Paraguay, waves to the press as he stands with his mother Melania, (L) sister Rosinei (2nd L) and father Alcido (R) to give a press conference a day after he was released by his kidnappers, on their ranch in Paso Tuya, December 26, 2014. Fick, kidnapped nearly nine months earlier by the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) rebel group, was released on Christmas day after his family paid a ransom, the police said. REUTERS/Fernando Romero/ABC Color (PARAGUAY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) 

A CETEG (State Coordinator of Teachers of Guerrero) member stands next to a glass panel with words reading "Kidnappers office" during a protest demanding the government find of missing students of the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College Raul Isidro Burgos, at the General Attorney building in Chilpancingo, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero December 1, 2014. Embattled President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday vowed to simplify Mexico's chaotic police structure and stop collusion between officials and drug gangs as he tried to defuse anger over the apparent massacre of 43 students in September. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez (MEXICO - Tags: CRIME LAW EDUCATION POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) 

Men rest after salvaging metal on the 30th floor of the "Tower of David" skyscraper in Caracas in this February 3, 2014 file photo.

The building was intended to be a shining new financial center but was abandoned around 1994 after the death of its developer and the collapse of the financial sector. Squatters invaded the huge concrete skeleton in 2007 and now about 3,000 people call the tower their home.

The first time I tried to get access to the tower wasn't really a success. I was told, not in the friendliest of terms, that I should leave while I still could. The residents of the tower, and particularly those in charge of managing it, were (and still are) very sensitive to media. Publications frequently feature headlines such as: 'Tower of terror,' 'The shanty skyscraper,' it has even been featured in an episode of the TV series 'Homeland' as a kidnappers' den.


My intention wasn't to follow on from these headlines. I wanted above all to create a portrait of the lives of the thousands of people who call this place home, and who face struggles and risks every day. I wanted to document without judging. That is what I told the squatters' board of administrators, who made me explain my intentions in producing this story. I felt the strong sense of community here from the first time I ascended the tower. - Jorge Silva
REUTERS/Jorge Silva (VENEZUELA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY POVERTY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: THIS PICTURE IS PART OF THE PACKAGE 'PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2014 - THE PHOTOGRAPHERS' STORY'. SEARCH 'PHOTOGRAPHERS' STORY' FOR ALL IMAGES' 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 19, 2014. Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinians on Thursday, the military said, in the fiercest street battles in the occupied West Bank since a search began for three Israeli teenagers missing for a week. Abbas roundly condemned the kidnappers on Wednesday and promised to hold to account those responsible. His words in turn were denounced by Hamas and other factions, who accused him of betraying the national cause. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 19, 2014. Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinians on Thursday, the military said, in the fiercest street battles in the occupied West Bank since a search began for three Israeli teenagers missing for a week. Abbas roundly condemned the kidnappers on Wednesday and promised to hold to account those responsible. His words in turn were denounced by Hamas and other factions, who accused him of betraying the national cause. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) 

Isidro Garcia (L), 41, and deputy district attorney Whitney Bokosky are seen in this close up of a monitor showing a jailhouse video court arraignment hearing for charges in Santa Ana, California June 9, 2014. A woman abducted from her suburban Southern California home when she was 15 was found alive after a decade-long ordeal of physical and sexual abuse, and her accused kidnapper has been arrested, police said. Garcia was taken into custody where he was living with the woman in the city of Bell Gardens, and booked on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment, police said. Garcia pleaded not guilty to the charges. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW) 

Isidro Garcia (C), 41, and his attorney Charles Frisco (L) are seen in this close up of a monitor showing a jailhouse video court arraignment hearing in Santa Ana, California June 9, 2014. A woman abducted from her suburban Southern California home when she was 15 was found alive after a decade-long ordeal of physical and sexual abuse, and her accused kidnapper has been arrested, police said. Garcia was taken into custody where he was living with the woman in the city of Bell Gardens, and booked on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment, police said. Garcia pleaded not guilty to the charges. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW) 

Isidro Garcia (L), 41, and deputy district attorney Whitney Bokosky are seen in this close up of a monitor showing a jailhouse video court arraignment hearing for charges in Santa Ana, California June 9, 2014. A woman abducted from her suburban Southern California home when she was 15 was found alive after a decade-long ordeal of physical and sexual abuse, and her accused kidnapper has been arrested, police said. Garcia was taken into custody where he was living with the woman in the city of Bell Gardens, and booked on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment, police said. Garcia pleaded not guilty to the charges. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW)