In Latin American countries, informal settlements result from internal migration to urban areas, lack of affordable housing and ineffective governance. During the 1950s and 1960s, many Latin American cities demolished squatter settlements and would quickly evict land invasions. In Chile, the government of Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970) began to permit shanty towns and the government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973) encouraged them, but under the military junta from 1973 onwards squatters were again quickly evicted. Likewise in Argentina, under the military dictatorship there was a zero tolerance policy. Nevertheless, forced by hunger and unemployment to take action, 20,000 squatters occupied 211 hectares of disused privately owned land on the periphery of Buenos Aires in 1981, forming six new settlements. They collectively resisted the eviction attempts and by 1984 had outlasted the dictatorship. The election of a democratic government led to the local councils becoming more open to negotiation.