Maricarmen was 87 years old and had a simple request: to spend her final days in the place that had been her home for practically her entire life. She had lived in the same apartment in Madrid since 1956, but a lengthy dispute over her lease ended with her eviction on September 23.
That day, she had to leave the home where she had spent seven decades. She was carried out on a stretcher and ended up being admitted to Gregorio Marañón Hospital due to severe stress and exhaustion.
But even from a hospital bed, Maricarmen kept thinking of others.
“I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others learn to fight for theirs”, she said in one of the messages she recorded after the eviction.
Her story had already reached beyond the walls of that apartment. Thousands of people began to mobilize, protests spread, and her name ended up becoming a symbol for those who fear losing the place they call home.
Maricarmen still held on to hope. Following the demonstrations, an agreement was reached that would allow her to return to her home. However, she did not live to fulfill that wish.
On October 7, two weeks after leaving her home, Maricarmen died in the hospital at the age of 87.
Until the end, she wanted her story to help someone else. In one of her last messages, she made a request that ultimately became her legacy:
“I ask you all to be brave: defend what is yours”.
Maricarmen never managed to return to her home, but she did manage to make thousands of people understand why she never wanted to stop fighting for it.