The Latin Village remains closed, despite shops and markets across England being allowed to open. TfL should be working around the clock carrying out remedial works but instead there is no visible TfL workforce onsite since the lockdown was lifted to open the Latin Village as soon as possible. 

In addition to this inexcusable delay, TfL have advised traders they will be removing 50% of the trading space by closing the mezzanine floor, and prohibiting on-site cooking within the UK's second largest concentration of Latin American businesses in Tottenham. The Latin Village is a unique treasure in a national landscape that is being homogenised for corporate interests and not local communities, with zero affordable housing included in the development.

The closing of the mezzanine floor constitutes a loss of 50% of the trading space within the market. Dominican trader Yesenia pictured above,who owns Mily Hair Salon on the mezzanine floor, will lose her entire livelihood. Colombian traders like Manuel who has invested £30k on his restaurant's kitchen on the mezzanine floor, and Daniel, who has his butcher's cold room on the mezzanine floor, will lose their livelihoods and investments. 

Another devastating TfL policy is the new cooking ban, which will destroy the livelihoods of many Latin restaurant owners who have been trading for nearly two decades. Approximately 25% of the Latin Village will be affected. One trader states that he has invested  over £120k developing the restaurant which was founded almost twenty years ago. 100% of traders in the Latin Village are BAME, and the majority of traders are women - the closure of the mezzanine floors and cooking ban disproportionately impacts the BAME community and their businesses within North London.

The closure of the Latin Village and its attempted destruction will have ramifications for the wider Latin American community in London. It was reported in Aljazeera that 85% of the UK’s Latin American community depend on the Latin Village and Elephant & Castle for enjoying their culture. 

For the vast majority of Latin Americans, spaces like the Latin Village are vital places for mutual aid, which is more urgent because of COVID-19 and the recession. Also for being part of a community, and remaining connected to their culture and language. In particular, many children from multicultural backgrounds rely on Seven Sisters Market/Pueblito Paisa to enjoy a sense of a village community, especially in an absence of youth centres across the country. The traders not only trade for their livelihoods, but provide a sense of belonging to the local migrant community. 

We are demanding:

1. The Latin Village must have a faster reopening. There is no visible presence on site of a TfL workforce doing everything they can to get the Latin Village safely open again.
2. Latin Village traders must be compensated for lost incomes, delayed reopening and countless more damages.
3. TfL must be held accountable for their negligence - TfL has been complicit in the managed decline, supported MAM/Quarterbridge through numerous investigations, bailed them out financially, disregarded their acts of direct discrimination and covered up their criminal acts against the BAME community.

Why is BAME property and livelihoods being condemned by Transport for London and the Mayor of London? Why are minority ethnic communities not valued by these public bodies?

Please sign and share our petition against these changes, and protect this vital space, and the people who rely on it.

Support our crowdfunder for the campaign's legal fees here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/latinvillagepueblitopaisa/