| Sumario: | Vietnam is a working-class community located on the only waterfront terrain that the wealthy city of Guaynabo has. Although Vietnam residents are protected from unilateral application of eminent domain procedures by virtue of the Law of Special Communities (2001), they still faced a brutal expropriation process. Ironically, the government argued that it needed to protect residents from flooding and natural disasters, while planning to build hotels and expensive high-rises in the same area. How did the municipality circumvent the legal protections the community had? What was the ultimate interest in displacing them? We argue that this case is an example of mediated corruption (Thompson 1993), a legal but undemocratic practice in which politicians obtain political gains by furthering key donor’s interests. This paper uses data from over 700 municipal ordinances with information about the property value and location. It also analyzes official documents and interviews to communities’ leaders and residents. We map out the extent of the expropriation process and uncover the mafia-like tactics of intimidation and harassment used by the municipality to strong arm residents to sell their houses at a fraction of market value. Finally, it describes the strategies residents used to fight back Guaynabo’s corrupt practices.
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