Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Spanish pensioner whose forced removal from her Madrid apartment set off demonstrations across the country, has died, according to the tenants' association that publicized her case. The group announced her death on Wednesday, tagesschau.de reports, saying it regretted having to confirm that she had passed away that day.
Abascal had lived in the same Madrid apartment for more than seven decades. Her case drew international attention after she was carried out of the home on a stretcher during the eviction.
Why it matters
Abascal's fate became the most visible illustration of Spain's housing shortage and the sharp rise in rents, tagesschau.de reports. Her name turned into a rallying point at demonstrations, where protesters carried placards reading "We are all Maricarmen."
The case also pushed the housing crisis to the top of the national political agenda. According to tagesschau.de, the Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who leads a minority government, sought to win parliamentary backing for his proposals to address the crisis, including a plan to ban evictions in situations of social hardship. He failed to secure enough support.
On Monday, Sánchez announced early elections for the end of November. tagesschau.de reports that the opposition conservative People's Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party currently lead in the polls.
Rent raised by 275 percent, association says
According to the tenants' association, an investor raised the rent on Abascal's apartment by 275 percent, to 2,650 euros. The association's account of the rent increase is reported by tagesschau.de; the figure has not been independently confirmed in the source material.
After the eviction, Abascal was taken to hospital suffering from exhaustion. Days later, an agreement was reached and she returned to her apartment. The tenants' association said that resolution came too late, describing it as "a completely avoidable situation after an agonizing process."
The association's statement announcing her death did not provide a cause, according to tagesschau.de.
A case that reached the national stage
The eviction produced protests nationwide and turned Abascal into a recognizable figure in Spain's debate over housing. tagesschau.de reports that her story laid bare the scale of the problem in unusually stark terms.
The political fallout has been substantial. Sánchez's attempts to pass measures against the housing crisis stalled in parliament, and two rental decrees failed, tagesschau.de reports. The collapse of those efforts was followed by street protests and speculation about an early vote, which Sánchez then confirmed.
The election is now set for late November, with the PP and Vox ahead in the surveys cited by tagesschau.de.
What to watch next: how the housing crisis and Abascal's death shape campaigning ahead of the November vote, and whether Sánchez's proposed ban on evictions in cases of social hardship gains traction after the election.
