Isabel Rodríguez holds Ayuso responsible for Maricarmen's eviction and demands a new anti-eviction moratorium

The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, held the president of the Community of Madrid responsible this Wednesday, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for the eviction of Maricarmen, the elderly Madrid woman who had lived in an old-rent apartment for 71 years, and accused the regional government of rolling out the "red carpet" for vulture funds that buy this type of housing.

In statements to journalists in the corridors of Congress, the socialist leader described the day as a "very sad and dramatic" day, and maintained that this case reflects the "consequences of savage speculation." As she explained, her department has "done a lot" to try to prevent the eviction of this 87-year-old woman from being carried out.

The Government's mediation and support for the United Nations resolution

Isabel Rodríguez detailed that the Executive has institutionally supported Maricarmen's case, among other ways, through its support for the United Nations resolution that requested the precautionary suspension of the eviction, and also through mediation efforts between the owning company and the affected party.

"We have contacted the company to make them understand that above their economic interest is the social character of this home and Mari Carmen's life; we have mediated to be able to acquire that home, to be able to compensate those rents, as private individuals are also doing today," the minister said, before adding that, while the Government was trying to open that path, "there are those who are working in the opposite direction."

Direct criticism of the Community of Madrid

The Minister of Housing explicitly pointed to the person who holds the "maximum responsibility in housing matters" in the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and reproached the regional president that, while social and neighborhood movements mobilized this Tuesday in support of Maricarmen, she "once again went to roll out the red carpet for speculators and vultures to tell them that they do not intend to regulate the market and that they can continue to roam freely."

Rodríguez was referring to the visit that the Madrid president and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, made to the real estate fair The District. In the minister's opinion, that institutional support serves as an "excuse for these funds to then disregard the administrations and not care a fig about criticism and social movement."

"The company makes fun of public administrations and Spanish citizens because it has a president who protects them," summarized Isabel Rodríguez, who also accused the owners of "beating around the bush" during the mediation attempt promoted by the Government until, according to her version, "they have felt supported by other administrations that do not lift a finger, not even at the call of the United Nations, nor that of the neighbors, nor the minimal humanity required to address the situation of an 87-year-old person who today will find herself on the street."

Request to the PP and Junts to approve a moratorium

The Minister of Housing insisted that the Government will not "give up" and defended that Parliament "has a lot to say" on this matter. At that point, she recalled that the Ministry of Housing has brought the anti-eviction moratorium to Congress on three occasions during the last year, an initiative that was rejected by PP, Vox, and Junts.

"Since July, political groups have had a proposal on the table that goes much further so that, structurally, we can once and for all end this situation and so that administrations like Mrs. Ayuso do not get away with it," she stressed, while asking the parties to support these measures.

In her speech, Isabel Rodríguez begged the PP that, despite its "drift to the far-right," it feels "interpellated" by what is happening with Maricarmen, and also demanded that "all groups that have occasionally supported the Government" back the anti-eviction moratorium, in allusion to Junts.

Support from the Government and the Socialist Group

In the government control session, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, also publicly showed the Executive's support for the affected elderly woman. "In the end, each of us represents a part of society and you (the PP and Vox) are with the technoligarchs, with those who trample international law, you with the heartless speculators and we with Mari Carmen," he stated.

For his part, the spokesperson for the Socialist Group in Congress, Patxi López, has indicated that "what fails" in this case are Ayuso and the PP. "The ministry has brought here a proposal to limit the capacity of funds to evict and there is no majority to carry it forward because there are political formations that hold congresses with vulture funds. That is where the failure lies," he insisted.