She arrived at age 17 and faithfully paid her rent for 7 decades until she was hit with an impossible rent increase; Police carried her out on a stretcher, despite her 50% disability: from the hospital, she called for an emergency law to protect other elderly people;

She was 87 years old and 50% disabled; she was forcibly evicted from the home where she had lived for more than 7 decades, and after two weeks in the hospital, her heart could take no more 💔🇪🇸🕊️

Some stories mark a before and after in a country’s collective consciousness, and the story of María del Carmen Abascal is an open wound in Spain’s memory.

At 87, MariCarmen wasn’t asking for luxuries; she just wanted to spend her final days in peace in the apartment in Madrid’s Retiro neighborhood where she had put down roots at age 17. Seven decades of memories, photographs, and life were thrown into turmoil when the company that owned the property demanded an unaffordable rent increase for her pension of 1.350 euros, rejecting any offer of mediation.

On September 23, 2026, neither her age of 87, her reduced mobility, nor her 50% disability could stop the eviction from being carried out. Amid the indignant cries of hundreds of activists who tried to protect her on the stairway, police officers broke down the door, and the elderly woman had to be evacuated by stretcher and ambulance from the home where she had lived for 71 years.

However, amid her pain, MariCarmen refused to let her suffering be in vain. From the bed in the clinic where she was admitted after the exhausting eviction, the woman raised her voice to deliver an emotional message to government authorities: “I don’t want this to happen to any other older person”, demanding an emergency decree-law to ban the eviction of people in vulnerable situations. Her plea sparked a massive wave of protests across the country.

Tragically, the physical and emotional toll of the shock of losing her home was too much for her fragile health. Just 14 days after being evicted, MariCarmen died at Hospital Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, sparking profound public grief.

Today, this woman’s passing does not represent a defeat, but the birth of an indelible symbol of dignity that united an entire nation under a single promise: that housing be a human right and no elderly person ever be forced out of their home again.

Rest in peace, MariCarmen. Your struggle lives on in the memory of an entire country. 🕊️💔

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