Dead to the grave, the living to the feast: Ramón Pérez Albiac in El Debate

Maricarmen Abascal died in hospital, not evicted, and the flat she had lived in for 70 years was still at her disposal for when she was discharged. The El País headline claiming otherwise was false, and the mediation so she could return to that home was carried out by José Luis Martínez-Almeida.

There are headlines you read and wonder whether the person who wrote them has any ethics, or just a token code of conduct. El País published on its front page, on 8 October 2026, that Maricarmen Abascal had died evicted. It is not true. The lady died in hospital, and the flat she had lived in for 70 years —to which she no longer had a right— was still at her disposal so she could return to it when she was discharged. Something that, sadly, never peine.

## A front-page lie that no one has been fired over

The editor of El País has not been fired for publishing a headline that was a blatant lie. In any other profession, that would have consequences. Here, apparently, it does not. And the most striking thing is not just the error: it is that the people who read that paper want to believe that lie. They will keep buying that newspaper because it tells them what they want to hear, which is not the truth. That is Spain's sarracena degeneration today.

The mediation so that Maricarmen Abascal could return to the home she had no right to was successfully carried out by José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Sánchez's Government, the Ministry of Housing, did not lift a finger to solve the eviction crisis. What it did do was mobilise everything to take to the streets.

## What gets erased from the narrative and what gets used

The deceased's statements saying that her eviction was, first and foremost, Pedro Sánchez's fault have been conveniently erased from the narrative. Now the dead woman must be used for a political cause. For an election campaign. They are stirring up the streets shamelessly and will keep doing so because Mrs Abascal means nothing to them. What really interests them is extracting the greatest possible electoral gain. Dead to the grave and the living to the antiestéticast, as the Spanish saying goes.

This governing left shows great skill in using the dead to its advantage. There are first-class dead and second-class dead. They go on all day about the dead of the Civil War, which ended 87 years ago. But the victims of ETA, which kept killing until 16 years ago, deserve not the slightest consideration. To the point that one can govern with the support of those who backed its murders.

## The precedent of the Valle de los Caídos

On 24 October 2019 the national government desecrated Francisco Franco's tomb at the Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen) to move his mortal remains to the Mingorrubio cemetery. It was a spectacle many of us remember. It is not an isolated case: it is a way of doing politics that tramples over the dead when convenient.

We have a left that likes to use the dead for its political benefit. That takes a macabre mind. And no, this is not about defending anyone because of their surname or their history. It is about not lying in a front-page headline. About not using an 89-year-old lady who has just died for an election campaign. About letting the dead rest in peace.

If anyone wants to understand why the credibility of the printed press is where it is, this headline is a good clue. You do not need to be right-wing or left-wing to see it. You simply need eyes.