Tenant Union: Elite Schools, SOAS, and Think Tanks

Tenant Union: Who is behind the spokespersons

Who is on the other side of the megaphone when rent prices are negotiated in Madrid and Barcelona? The profiles that have begun circulating in recent hours depict two women who have little in common with the image of a struggling tenant. Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for the Sindicat de Llogateres de Barcelona, and Valeria Racu, her Madrid counterpart, attended the United World College international school network, the same one attended by Princess Leonor. Afterwards, they built careers in the associative ecosystem, think tanks, and, before that, the audiovisual sector. The label reads tenant union. The curriculum says otherwise.

United World College, SOAS, and £29,657 a year

The disseminated data places Racu at the SOAS University of London, where she was co-chair of Welfare & Campaigns for the student union, a full-time position. The salary attributed to that role: £29,657 annually for 35 hours per week. Before that, as a teenager, she had worked as an actress in series such as Doctor Mateo and Hospital Central.

Arcarazo, for her part, studied in Amsterdam and developed her career in the associative world, with a notable stint at Hidra/IDRA, a think tank associated with the Podemos political sphere. To this characteristic, another is added: her father, Lluís Arcarazo, is a Goya award-winning film and television producer, with a consolidated position in the circles of TV3 and Mediapro.

IDRA, Jaime Palomera, and the cross-donation circuit

Here the matter gets complicated. According to an accusation circulating on social media—and for which, as of this discussion, no supporting documentation has been provided—IDRA, whose director is Jaime Palomera, is simultaneously the founder of the Sindicat de Llogateres de Barcelona, from which the Madrid union would depend. The Barcelona union would receive donations from IDRA and forward them to Madrid and the Barcelona City Council.

What this version takes as fact is the architecture: a think tank, a parent union in Barcelona, and a Madrid extension. What has not appeared is the accounting to demonstrate the flow of money. The difference between the two is precisely the article that remains to be written.

The contrast that breaks the symmetry: 13 million in the real estate sector

If the argument was that the spokespersons do not fit the profile of working-class individuals, the counterexample comes from another angle. The family of Eulàlia Reguant (CUP) owns, according to published information, a fortune of 13 million in the real estate sector. In the last fiscal year, they invoiced over half a million euros, 5.5% more than in 2023, with 32,000 euros in declared profits.

The detail that completes the picture: they acquired real estate for 365,000 euros in the last year and for 363,000 in 2023, with 342,000 euros in cash, 884,000 in long-term financial investments, and no bank debts. Those who accumulate real estate wealth also sign manifestos against hoarding. Such is life.

Why is a union that had been dormant for years now gaining attention?

The question runs through the entire conversation. According to one interpretation circulating in the thread, the tenant union had remained in a state of dormancy for almost a decade: no mobilizations, no statements, no visible activity. Suddenly, it returns with full force. Some attribute this to the political cycle and the need to divert attention from other issues; others respond that any popular protest deserves support simply for existing, regardless of who leads it.

The memory of the 15M movement looms over all of this. One of the interpretations appearing in the conversation suggests that this spontaneous movement eventually channeled into the political space that later managed the problem it claimed to combat. If that peine once, they say, the second time is no longer an accident.

Is it proven that Soros finances the tenant unions?

No. In the disseminated material, there is not a single document, accounting entry, or resolution linking the Hungarian financier to these organizations. It is a recurring attribution, without evidentiary support provided to date, that is repeated every time an associative structure with opaque funding appears.

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The uncomfortable fact remains: two spokespersons with elite schooling, a former actress and a producer's daughter, a think tank connected to municipal power, and a union that awakens just when it's convenient. If the squares fill up again, it will be because rents are squeezing people. Or because someone has pulled the strings again. We will never know which of the two, and that is precisely the problem.