Madrid's tenants' union announced Wednesday that María del Carmen Abascal, 87, has died. Two weeks ago she was carried out of her Madrid apartment on a stretcher, setting off a wave of housing-crisis protests across Spain.
CNN reports Abascal had been hospitalized since her eviction on September 23, admitted with exhaustion. "We regret to announce that Maricarmen has passed away today. As you all know, she was evicted on September 23, and has remained in hospital ever since," the union said. "Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return to her home, this solution came too late."
The eviction followed a long legal dispute: the real estate firm owning her apartment hiked her monthly rent from €500 ($560) to €2,650 ($2,970), a 275% jump. She had lived there since 1956 — she was not evicted for non-payment, but was an elderly woman with a recognized 50% disability.
A reprieve briefly appeared: on September 28, the owner, Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión, reached an agreement with her representatives to let her return under a new eight-year lease at about €500 a month. She accepted from her hospital bed — but never made it home.
Her removal triggered weeks of demonstrations. Hundreds of activists camped at Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, the most symbolic of the protests. The Madrid Tenants' Union claimed roughly 950,000 people joined demonstrations across the country over the weekend.
The target: Spain's housing crisis — soaring rents, mounting evictions, young people unable to rent, elderly people unable to hold onto their homes. Angel Victor Torres, Spain's territorial policy minister, lamented the news, saying Maricarmen had become a symbol of what was happening to many families, elderly and young people struggling to obtain or keep homes.
The protests shook Spanish politics. Two royal decree-laws adopted September 29 to curb evictions and limit rent pressures were rejected by parliament last week. On Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called an early election for November 29 — his term had been due to run to 2027.
Reuters analysis: Sánchez is seeking to shift the political narrative from his government's handling of a migrant crisis and corruption cases touching his party and family to the housing crisis, where he can harness growing resentment over rising rents. Sánchez posted condolences on X to her family "and to everyone who today feels this loss as our own."
The tenants' union's verdict on the early election: "The housing debate is at the centre, but the cost to get here has been too high."
From being carried out of her home, to becoming the face of a national movement, to dying in a hospital bed — Maricarmen's story took two weeks. Her death has given Spain's housing crisis a face it cannot look away from.