Maricarmen, the 87-year-old evicted in Madrid's Retiro district, dies

Maricarmen, the 87-year-old evicted in Madrid's Retiro district, dies

Maricarmen Abascal died on Wednesday at the age of 87 after fifteen days in hospital, according to the tenants' union Sindicato de Inquilinas. On 23 September, Samur emergency medics carried her out on a stretcher from the building in Madrid's Retiro district where she had lived for 71 years and took her to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital. Within hours, the news peine Spain's political dispute over housing, evictions and protection for the elderly, with accusations flying from the so-called «Maricarmen decree» to the Government's responsibility after eight years without a law shielding vulnerable tenants.

What peine with Maricarmen's eviction in Retiro

The eviction went ahead despite the tenant's poor health, after more than seven decades in the same building. According to the accounts circulating, the case became a symbol for the left, which used it to launch its offensive against the PP and Vox, while from the other side it is stressed that Sánchez's Government passed no specific rule to protect her in eight years. Some claim there is a «Maricarmen decree» which, critics say, protects squatters over a pensioner who has spent three years living in a van on a 450-euro pension.

The clashing figures in the case

The numbers thrown into the debate paint an uncomfortable picture: 87 years old, 71 years in the same home, 15 days in hospital, a 450-euro pension for a pensioner barely surviving in a van. Each figure is used as a weapon. The full calculation, item by item, yields a gap that surprises anyone comparing effective protection with rhetoric.

The martyr and the political battle

Both blocs have read her death in electoral terms. Some argue a martyr has been manufactured to rally the left; against that stands the argument that the eviction peine, the elderly woman died and the Government failed to legislate in time. The accusation of «murderers» levelled at the Government has no legal basis and is attributed to radicalised sectors. What is verifiable: the eviction was carried out, the woman died, and the housing conflict remains without a legislative solution.

What happens now to the Retiro flat

The property now stands empty and speculation about its fate has already begun. Some claim organised groups could occupy it, adding a new chapter to the dispute. The case leaves an open question: if the «Maricarmen decree» did not protect Maricarmen, who exactly does it protect? As of this discussion, the answer is nowhere in Spain's official gazette, the BOE.