Maricarmen Abascal dies, symbol of the fight against evictions

MadridTwo weeks after being evicted and having become a symbol of the fight for housing, Maricarmen Abascal died this Wednesday in Madrid, as announced by the Tenants' Union. This 87-year-old resident of the Retiro district in Madrid had been admitted to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in the Spanish capital since the day of the eviction, September 23, and had not yet been able to return to her home despite the "historic agreement" that allowed her to, signed between the investment fund that owned her apartment and Maricarmen's representatives and relatives as a result of social pressure. Tonight, those camped at the Puerta del Sol improvised a march and a gathering in front of the Congress of Deputies following her death.

"An absolutely avoidable situation after a torturous process," lamented the union, which has led the wave of mobilizations throughout the State following her case. The decree that the PP, Vox, and Junts struck down in Congress last Friday with anti-eviction measures was, in fact, informally named after her, and it was this parliamentary defeat that ultimately led to Pedro Sánchez's decision to call early elections.

In a statement, the Madrid Tenants' Union remarked that, although the reaction to Maricarmen's eviction has meant a "before and after" in mobilization and has managed to place "the housing debate at the center", "the cost to get here has been too high". Housing rights movements have long warned of the harshness with which the housing problem strikes the health and physical integrity of people facing eviction processes.

This very month of September, without going any further, organizations in Catalonia reported the suicide of Olga, a 54-year-old woman, a resident of the Santa Eulàlia neighborhood of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, five months after she was evicted. Also in L'Hospitalet, Jordi took his own lifea few days before being expelled from the shoe store he had been running for many years.

In the case of Maricarmen, the mobilization generated by her case had caused Urbagestión, the investment fund that owns the apartment, to agree to let her return to the home from which she was evicted. The rectification "has arrived too late," lamented the Tenants' Union. "We will continue to fight for you, for all of us, as you always wanted," they stressed from the union. The death of Maricarmen Abascal did not take long to provoke reactions at the highest political level. "All my affection to the family and loved ones of Maricarmen. A hug also to all of us who today feel this loss as our own. Rest in peace," said the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, on X.

The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has also shown himself to be "shocked" by the death on the same social network. "No one can remain indifferent. Politics cannot allow any inhumanity. We will continue fighting to ensure it does not happen again," added the leader of the PSC. He did so shortly after the Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat announced the purchase of a block in Sant Andreu threatened by a mass eviction.

Other progressive leaders have also lamented the death of Maricarmen, such as the spokesperson for ERC in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, or the Minister of Health and leader of Més Madrid, Mónica García. "Your fight awakened consciences throughout Spain and lit a flame that will not be extinguished," said García. The death of Maricarmen has an impact in the middle of the start of the 29-N pre-campaign and has just coincided with the announcement of the date for the general housing strike.

Also the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who in a message on X expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Maricarmen and asked that her death not enter the political debate. "No campaign, no parties, no self-interested use. No more stones on the wall. In the face of a person's death, there is only room for respect," he wrote.

Eviction from the family home

The home from which Maricarmen was evicted was the family home. She moved into the apartment with her parents when she was very small. Her father signed the lease in 1956 and when he died, the contract was subrogated to his wife and Maricarmen's mother, who continued living in the apartment with her daughter until she died in 2005. Since then, she lived there alone and had an old rent agreement.

The first eviction order arrived seven years ago. In 2018, the family that owned the building sold the entire property to Renta Corporación, one of the largest real estate groups in the country. At that point, they proposed to Maricarmen the purchase of the apartment, but she could not afford the price they were demanding. It is at this moment that the investment fund Urbagestión appears and the problems begin. They demanded rent increases that she could not assume until the eviction orders arrived. On the fourth attempt, Maricarmen was evicted.