Maricarmen Abascal: how a disabled, evicted 87-year-old woman became a political football in Spain’s upcoming election

Maricarmen Abascal, who was evicted on September 23, became a symbol of Spain's housing protests. She died on October 7 in a Madrid hospital. Barcex/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

In Spain, an average of 44 evictions are carried out every day. While statistics like this are shocking, numbers alone rarely spark a revolution. Mass protest movements instead tend to rally around one compelling individual story.

This was exactly what happened with 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who has become so famous that she is known in Spain as simply Maricarmen. Following an insurmountable rent hike and a lengthy legal battle, she was evicted from her Madrid home of 71 years in September, and died on October 7. She quickly become a household name, and the figurehead of Spain’s housing protests.