Maricarmen Abascal – María del Carmen Abascal, the face of Spain’s movement against evictions, has passed away at 87, months after being forced from her lifelong home.
The woman who became the unlikely heartbeat of a national movement has died. María del Carmen Abascal, known to thousands simply as Maricarmen, passed away this Wednesday at the Hospital Gregorio Marañón. She was 87 years old.
Her death comes just months after a forced departure that shook the social consciousness of Spain. On September 23, Maricarmen was evicted from the Retiro apartment that had been her sanctuary for seven decades. She had lived there since 1956, when her father first rented the property in the Ibiza neighborhood. For years. she remained a fixture of the area. a retired secretary who had spent 34 years working for a pharmaceutical company before retiring in 1998. Her life was defined by the walls of that apartment, where her father died in 1960 and her mother in 2005.
Seven years ago. a firm purchased the building—buying her unit specifically because she was a rent-controlled tenant—at a price considered derisory for that neighborhood. Despite her modest 1,400-euro pension, Maricarmen never missed a payment. Her rent and bills totaled roughly 500 euros a month. By 2020. the new owners moved to evict her. arguing the contract had been subrogated twice: first to her mother. under a Franco-era law. and then to her. Over the following years. they attempted to remove her four times. refusing any of her proposals to either pay the difference of their requested 1. 600-euro rent or to purchase the home herself.
The ordeal took a visible toll. In her final months, Maricarmen relied on a wheelchair and assistance for daily tasks. She spoke of losing her physical strength, experiencing difficulty eating, and noticing her own voice changing. “It has affected everything,” she said two days before the eviction. “I am no longer me.”.
Yet, even as her body failed, her resolve fueled a wave of protest. When she was finally removed in September. carried out on a stretcher by emergency services. it sparked massive demonstrations. plaza occupations. and a general strike. The Sindicato de Inquilinas, which represented her, confirmed the news of her passing alongside her family and lawyer. They noted she had been hospitalized since the day of her eviction. While a historic agreement had been reached that would have allowed her to return home, the resolution arrived too late.
Those who stood with her realize the gravity of her legacy. The movement she inspired—led by the rallying cry “We are all Maricarmen”—marks a definitive before-and-after in the country’s history. For the first time in Spain. public pressure had forced a property owner to agree to a new rental contract for an evicted tenant.
Before she left her home. surrounded by moving boxes. Maricarmen looked at the porcelain pieces. the tea table. and the paintings she had collected over a lifetime. She was not religious, though she maintained a ritual of wishing goodnight to her parents and the Pope before sleep. Her final wishes were simple: to die in the home where she had spent 71 years and to rest in the Cantabrian Sea.
From her hospital bed, she continued to urge others to fight, sending messages to the thousands who were camping in the streets on her behalf. Her final request to her supporters was as firm as the character she was known for: “Fight, keep fighting for what is yours.”
Maricarmen Abascal Spain evictions housing rights Sindicato de Inquilinas Madrid news housing crisis