Casablanca – Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Madrid woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests over Spain’s housing crisis, died yesterday at Gregorio Marañón Hospital, two weeks after police removed her from the home where she had lived for more than seven decades.
Abascal died at around 7:30 p.m. surrounded by relatives and close loved ones, according to El País. Her condition worsened unexpectedly yesterday morning, just hours before she was due to sign a new rental contract that would have allowed her to return to her apartment in Madrid’s Retiro district.
She entered the hospital on September 23, the day authorities carried out the fourth attempt to evict her from the apartment on Calle Alcalde Sainz de Baranda. She had lived there since 1956, when her family signed an old protected-rent lease. She later inherited the tenancy from her parents.
Urbagestión, which acquired the property in 2018, challenged the validity of her tenancy in court. An initial ruling favored Abascal, but later proceedings sided with the property owner. The eviction eventually went ahead after hundreds of people gathered outside her building to try to stop it.
Abascal, who had a recognized 50% disability, left the apartment in a wheelchair before medical workers transferred her to a stretcher and took her to hospital.
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Her case quickly grew beyond one apartment. Protests spread across Spain, with demonstrators gathering in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol under the slogan “Not one more Maricarmen.” The eviction also became part of a wider political fight over rent, evictions and protections for vulnerable tenants.
Just five days after the eviction, Urbagestión reached an agreement with Abascal’s representatives following more than four hours of negotiations mediated by Madrid’s municipal housing company.
The deal would have given her an eight-year lease with rent capped at 30% of her net income. Abascal accepted the agreement and said she was happy to return home once doctors discharged her from hospital.
She never made it back.
Her death came while Spain continued to debate the housing measures that emerged after her eviction. The government approved protections against evictions and extensions for some rental contracts, while her case continued to feature prominently in demonstrations and political debate.
No specific official medical cause of death has been publicly released. Reuters reported that she died after severe anxiety and exhaustion, while a doctor speaking to Cadena SER said stress can worsen existing medical conditions.
