'Nowhere to go': Argentine families occupy land as pandemic stokes poverty

Carolina Godoy, 35, poses for a picture next to her children Gabriela, 14, and Dylan, 8, at the patch of land she occupied, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Guernica, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina September 16, 2020. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - When the coronavirus pandemic hit Argentina, painter Gonzalo Esquivel could not know it marked the beginning of a personal crisis that would eventually see him living on a vacant piece of land with thousands of others evicted from their home.

With his work disrupted by the virus, Esquivel, 23, was unable to pay his rent. He now lives in a makeshift slum that sprang up when people who lost their homes started to occupy a patch of land near the town of Guernica in Buenos Aires province.