Pedro Sánchez laments the passing of Maricarmen, and embraces those who feel her loss "as their own"

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, conveyed this Wednesday his condolences for the death of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked a wave of housing protests. "All my love to Maricarmen's family and loved ones. A hug also to all of us who feel this loss as our own today. Rest in peace," he wrote on X.

Maricarmen has died at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, where she had been admitted since September 23, when she was carried out on a stretcher from the house in Madrid's Retiro neighborhood where she had lived for seven decades. Her family, her lawyer, and the Tenants' Union have lamented that the agreement later reached with the owning company to allow her to return came too late.

The response from Isabel Díaz Ayuso's circle has taken another path. "A public hospital in the Community of Madrid was with her until the end. Nothing more could be done. Rest in peace," one of the closest advisors to the regional president told 'El País'. The phrase vindicates the care Maricarmen received in her last days, but leaves out the years during which she fought to stay in her home and the eviction that led her to the hospital.

From condolences to rage over the eviction

The Minister of Health and leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, recalled the dimension her struggle reached. "Your struggle awakened consciences throughout Spain and lit a fuse that will not go out. Your dignity and courage mark the way," she wrote after bidding farewell to Maricarmen.

The federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida, Antonio Maíllo, has sent his love to the family and to those who accompanied Maricarmen. He also pointed out the time lost before a solution arrived. "She deserved to live her last years peacefully and in her home," he lamented. Maíllo maintains that social mobilization showed that an agreement was possible and has demanded that there not be "one more Maricarmen."

The Podemos MEP Irene Montero, who stood in front of the police cordon on the day of the eviction, has expressed her indignation in much harsher terms. "It's not a death, it's a murder. What damned rage. Thank you for fighting, Mari Carmen," she published. This is her political accusation regarding what happened; the statement announcing the death does not specify a medical cause.

Also the spokesperson for Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has reacted with a brief message: "What sons of bitches." He added no more words to a publication that expresses the rage provoked by the news.

A loss that affects unions and governments

The general secretary of the General Union of Workers (UGT), Pepe Álvarez, has linked her death to "the cruelty of a system that threw her out of her home" and has called for people to take to the streets for those who lack a home. The deputy spokesperson for Más Madrid in the regional Assembly, Emilio Delgado, has denounced that "real estate violence and the law of the strongest" marked Maricarmen's last years.

The president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Salvador Illa, has stated that her death "hits us" and has called for preventing a similar situation from repeating itself. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, summarized his reaction in a few words: "What great sadness". Also the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, lamented the death to the media and recalled that Maricarmen had become a symbol of the difficulties faced by elderly and young people to keep a home or access one.

Her death comes as the protest that began after her eviction remains alive in Puerta del Sol. Tonight, the campers have marched towards Congress shouting "Maricarmen lives, the struggle continues!".