In October and November of 1978, a wave of building collapses occurred in buildings of similar condition to the conventillos, where people were killed and seriously injured (142-3). On November 30, the dictatorship “suspended the normal legal procedures governing the eviction of residents of condemned buildings, granting the municipality the power to remove residents immediately and with no legal recourse” (143). On December 1, 1978, the Medio Mundo conventillo was condemned, and the residents were to be evacuated immediately (Andrews 140). Many were in shock, not only at the evacuation, but by the rapid speed of the eviction process. The newspapers reported that the decision for demolishing the Medio Mundo conventillo, which was built in 1885 and declared a National Historical Monument in 1975, was made so hastily due to the dilapidated and ultimately dangerous structures the buildings had become (140). However, many argue that the demolishing of the heart of candombe was instead an attempt by the dictatorship to silence the llamadas, and thus the Afro-Uruguayan population.

While researching, we came across many valid reasons for the military government to tear down the conventillos, the main one being for the safety of the residents and ultimately to get the residents evacuated before an emergency situation and panic arose. The fact that the buildings evacuated were famous for their history in candombe and their comparsas was likely a much welcome added bonus for the dictatorship in tearing them down, rather than being the main reason for demolishing them in the first place. What it does show however, is that the Afro-Uruguayan community was living in dilapidated and dangerous housing situations, where they and their relatives had been living for nearly a century.