Political row over the death of Maricarmen Abascal: the PP vetoes minutes of silence

MadridA social outburst, two emergency decrees, a snap election in Spain, and a general strike. The magnitude of the consequences of the Maricarmen case explains the shock over the death this Wednesday of the 87-year-old woman, who had become, following her eviction in Madrid, a symbol of the fight for the right to housing. Social movements have been mourning the passing of Maricarmen Abascal since last night and, as expected, her death has fully entered into the pre-campaign for the November 29 elections. Political messages of condolence have turned into crossed attacks between the parties, and the left has erupted against the PP, which has vetoed minutes of silence in memory of the woman in the Senate and in the Assembly and City Council of Madrid.

The Popular Party members have defended their refusal to participate in the tributes to Maricarmen Abascal proposed by the left, arguing that it is an attempt at "political instrumentalization" of her death. "We will not allow the attempt at emotional manipulation of the Spanish people. All this has happened during the eight years of Pedro Sánchez's government, with his policies and his decisions. It won't wash," said Alberto Núñez Feijóo this Thursday in a speech before the PP's national board of directors, which met to prepare the party for the elections. Various PP sources have denounced that the PSOE intends to use the tragedy electorally, in a "mean" and "despicable" way, and have predicted a "very tough and very ugly" campaign because Sánchez will try to smear it.

Where this tension between the PP and the left has been especially visible has been at the plenary session of the Madrid Assembly. In her usual tone, Isabel Díaz Ayuso has argued that the woman was evicted "by a socialist law" and has accused the Spanish government of not offering "apartments to women like Maricarmen" but rather doing so to "lovers like Jéssica," in reference to the ex-partner of former minister José Luis Ábalos. The Madrid left has attacked the attitude of the Madrid president, which they consider "inhumane," and the parliamentary spokesperson for Más Madrid, Manuela Bergerot, warned her that "there is no peace on the streets of Madrid." A statement that Ayuso took as a "threat"—to the point that the Madrid PP has filed a complaint against Bergerot with the National Police—.

A similar conflict has occurred at Madrid City Council. "First they allow her to be evicted and then they want to appropriate her memory," said the Popular Party mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, at the entrance to the party meeting in Génova. According to Martínez-Almeida, the left is trying to turn Maricarmen Abascal into an "electoral bait," and he said he refuses to participate in "confrontational strategies." The PP, moreover, believes that for the PSOE this attempt to make housing a banner will not be effective because the citizenry is fed up with Sánchez's management and will be indignant at "the exploitation of an elderly person."

Those led by Santiago Abascal, and with the same objective of not appearing responsible for the veto on anti-eviction measures, which failed in the lower house due to the 'no' votes from the PP, Vox, and Junts, have also opted for the strategy of attacking Sánchez by holding him directly responsible for the woman's death: "They have killed Maricarmen. Without any scruples, they have used the suffering of an elderly person to set up a campaign that hides the government's responsibility in the housing disaster," the ultra-rightists wrote on X.

Expressions of condolence and rage

The first reactions of condolence and anger arrived last night, when in a post on X Pedro Sánchez said: "A hug to all of us who feel this loss as our own today". A message that, without explicitly stating it, was aimed at the entire mobilized population, whose vote the PSOE seeks to drag to the polls. In fact, the protests continue and a flood of protesters also marched last night from Puerta del Sol to the doors of Congress shouting "They are not deaths, they are murders" and "Where is the progressive government?". The Madrid Tenants' Union has called for a new march this Thursday evening to the house of Maricarmen Abascal to denounce what happened: "They are not deaths, they are murders".

Other voices from the left, such as those of Gabriel Rufián (ERC) and Irene Montero (Podemos), reacted with accusations against the economic interests that caused the eviction. The former mayor of Barcelona and possible candidate of the left-wing alternative to the PSOE, Ada Colau, reacted this Thursday with "pain and anger" in statements to TVE, from where she said that Maricarmen has marked "a before and an after" and that "much" is owed to her. "We must live up to the example [...], continue the fight, support the demonstrations and the proposal for a general strike," she added.