Maricarmen Abascal, the octogenarian woman whose eviction set off housing protests across Spain, has died, a tenants' union in Madrid has said. Unions are now calling for a nationwide general strike on November 11.
Maricarmen Abascal was 87 years oldImage: Francesco Militello Mirto/NurPhoto/picture alliance
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Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman at the center of the nationwide protests in Spain due to her eviction from her Madrid home, has died, the local tenants' union said.
"We are sorry to announce that Maricarmen passed away today," the Madrid Tenants' Union said in a statement, adding that Abascal's cause marked "a turning point in the history of this country."
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Who is Abascal and how did she spark Spain's protests?
She had been hospitalized after the eviction took place due to exhaustion and was filmed being taken out of her home on a stretcher.
Following public pressure,, the company that owns the building did later come to an agreement to allow her to return.
However, the Madrid Tenants' Union said the solution came "too late," labeling the ordeal "totally avoidable" and "torturous" for the 87-year-old.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent his condolences to Abascal's family after learning of her death.
"I send hugs to all of those who mourn this loss as if it was their own," Sanchez posted on his X account.
Voicing his sadness over Abascal's death, Spanish Minister for Territorial Policy Angel Victor Torres said she symbolized the plight of many people struggling with the country's housing crisis.
The forced eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal has sparked mass protests in Spain against high rents. The retiree is now allowed to return to her Madrid apartment — but the fight for affordable housing continues.
Image: David Canales/SOPA Images/IMAGO
Taken from her home on a stretcher
For 70 years, an apartment in Madrid’s Retiro neighborhood was Maricarmen Abascal’s home. Then the 87-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, was carried out of the building on a stretcher. "I’ve lived here for 71 years and I don’t want to leave," she said. Images of the eviction spread throughout the country. The pensioner’s plight became a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis.
Image: Susana Vera/REUTERS
A five-fold rent increase
According to her supporters, Maricarmen had always paid her rent. However, following a change in ownership, the monthly rent reportedly rose from around 500 euros to 2,650 euros (567 dollars to 3,000 dollars), an amount the retiree could not afford. After the eviction, she was admitted to the hospital exhausted. Meanwhile, outrage over her case is growing, as seen in these mass protests in Madrid.
Image: Oscar Del Pozo/AFP
Madrid is setting up camp
A protest camp sprang up overnight at Puerta del Sol. About 100 tents were set up in one of the Spanish capital's most famous squares, and tens of thousands of people marched through the streets. They demanded lower rents and better protection against evictions. "We have to put an end to putting capital and investment funds before people," a 29-year-old who spent the night in the square said.
Image: Thomas Coex/AFP
Protests from Madrid to Barcelona
Even though Maricarmen can return home, the protests continue. People also took to the streets in the cities of Vigo, Malaga and Barcelona. They called for a rent freeze, open-ended leases and greater protection against evictions — to prevent Maricarmen’s fate from happening to others.
Image: Adrián Irago/Europa Press/IMAGO
Spain's government under pressure to act
The protest has now reached the political arena. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government is working on new measures to address the housing crisis. However, a majority in Parliament is by no means guaranteed; a similar initiative has already failed. The protesters are therefore demanding structural changes rather than short-term solutions.
Image: David Canales/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/picture alliance
Spain's housing market is 'a jungle'
For many younger Spaniards in particular, owning an apartment is now virtually out of reach. "It was like a jungle," said a 32-year-old teacher about her search. Renting is a struggle, too: Within a decade, the average asking rent per square meter has nearly doubled. At the same time, there is a shortage of hundreds of thousands of apartments nationwide.
Image: Adrián Irago/Europa Press/IMAGO
A symbolic homecoming
After days of anxiety, a positive outcome is in sight for Maricarmen: she will be able to return to her apartment. Her attorney, Beatriz Duro, says an agreement has been reached with the landlords. The new rent will be roughly the same as before. For Duro, this breakthrough is also a result of the protests. As soon as the retiree is able to leave the hospital, she will move back home.
Image: Francesco Militello Mirto/NurPhoto/picture alliance
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Spain's unions call for general strike
Spain's trade unions called on Wednesday for a nationwide general strike on November 11 over housing issues.
The UGT and CCOO unions urged the population to "mobilize for better salaries, for decent housing and for price controls in the face of inflation that undermines our purchasing power."
The strike "is the response to the insatiable real estate greed that speculates with one of the public's main rights, making access to a decent home practically impossible,", they said in a statement.
According to the government, 26% of tenants in Spain spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities, compared with the EU average of 18% who do so.
Housing crisis triggers snap election in Spain
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The nationwide protests triggered by Abascal's eviction and lawmakers' rejection of housing reforms intended to help tenants led Sanchez to call for early elections on November 29.
Sanchez, of the Socialist Party, is looking for a shift in the public narrative after his government's handling of the migrant crisis in Ceuta, as well as alleged corruption among his party's ranks.
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Edited by: Sean Sinico
Editor's note: An initial version of this story suggested that Abascal had been evicted after the owners drastically increased the rent. This was not wholly accurate. The eviction followed a Supreme Court ruling on the limit of a protetced rent succession contract.
