Mari Carmen is 87 years old. She had lived on Calle Alcalde Sainz de Baranda, in Madrid’s Retiro district, since 1956, when she arrived there at 17 with her parents.
Her father signed the lease. It was then transferred to her mother, and later to her. Seventy years paying the same rent, without missing a single month.
“I have never failed to pay a single month’s rent”, she repeated in recent days. That was what hurt her most: that she had never owed anyone anything.
In 2018, the building changed owners. The new owner offered to sell her the apartment for a sum no pensioner could afford. When she couldn’t, the eviction order arrived.
She won at first instance. But the final ruling sided with the company. Her disability, according to the judges, did not meet the minimum required by law for her to stay.
Hundreds of people slept outside her building entrance to prevent them from taking her away. It wasn’t enough.
Mari Carmen left the home where she had spent her entire life on a stretcher, while people shouted in support of her.
“I’m shattered”,” she said afterward.
Seventy years of memories remained inside those walls. At 87, she had to start from scratch.
