Spanish Housing Minister calls squatting victims "peperos"

Spanish Housing Minister calls squatting victims "peperos": contempt as housing policy

Last Tuesday, on leaving the Senate, Spain's Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez confronted a delegation from the Platform of Victims of Squatting (PAO). According to the victims themselves, after dodging them at one door, Rodríguez agreed to speak with them at another exit. The response they got, as reported by OKDIARIO, was a political insult: "peperos" (Popular Party supporters).

The PAO representatives explain that they introduced themselves as victims, not as activists. "We told her we were victims who were suffering, and she started saying with contempt that we were from the Popular Party," one of them explained. According to witnesses, the Minister not only dismissed their status but dehumanised them over their supposed ideology.

The scene took place hours after Rodríguez herself spoke in the Senate, where she reiterated that Spain's main housing problem is not squatting but access to rental housing and the financial burden on families. PP senator Paloma Martín accused her of creating legal uncertainty and weakening private property.

The insult as a smokescreen

What matters is not the adjective but what it reveals: a minister who reduces victims of a crime to political rivals. "They dehumanise us over ideology, as if we weren't people," the PAO laments. The implicit message is clear: if you don't belong to the governing party, your problem doesn't deserve attention.

The reaction on social media has been immediate. While some describe the episode as "arrogance" and "disgusting", others see it as a symptom of the decline of the political class. "They are now indistinguishable from guests on gossip shows," one regular commentator concludes.

The awkward fact

The contrast is stark: while the Minister brushes off the victims with an insult, her husband — according to reports — sits on the board of an IBEX 35 company (Solaria) that has received millions in public money. The question hanging in the air: how many more victims will be ignored while those in power shield themselves from criticism?

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