María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her home two weeks ago prompted widespread protests in Spain and spurred the prime minister to call national elections, died on Wednesday.
“We regret to announce that Maricarmen passed away today,” her representatives said in a statement, using the shortened form of her given names, by which Ms. Abascal had become widely known across Spain. They did not give a cause of death.
Ms. Abascal was evicted on Sept. 23 from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for more than 70 years, after police broke down her door. She was carried out on a stretcher and admitted to a hospital suffering from exhaustion.
Days later, as her condition failed to improve, her lawyer reached an agreement with the company that owned the apartment that would have allowed her to return once she was discharged.
“This solution came too late,” said the statement, signed by the tenants’ union, her lawyer and her family. “An absolutely avoidable situation following an agonizing process.”
The eviction touched a nerve among Spaniards fed up with a housing crisis. Tens of thousands of people, many of them young, took to the streets for days across the country, protesting skyrocketing rents and evictions, and singing “we are all Maricarmen.” Hundreds have also camped in Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s most famous square, and have no plans to clear out.
“This is not an eviction, this is murder,” hundreds of demonstrators chanted in the square on Wednesday evening, according to footage from Spain’s public broadcaster.
The eviction also brought about the end of the minority government of the left-wing prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. He called snap elections for Nov. 29, after a housing bill he presented last week, aimed at restricting evictions and freezing rents, was rejected in Parliament by a majority of conservative legislators.
“My deepest sympathies to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones,” Mr. Sánchez said on social media. “A warm embrace as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today.”
Born in 1938, Ms. Abascal worked as secretary for a pharmaceutical company, according to the newspaper El País. She retired in 1998 and spent her retirement walking around her leafy, affluent Madrid neighborhood close to the Retiro Park and taking care of paintings and porcelain pieces at home.
She had moved with her family to the apartment in the 1950s. Her father held the lease and later passed it on to his wife, who in turn transferred the rent-controlled lease to Ms. Abascal in 2005.
In 2020, the property was bought by the company Urbagestión, which sought to more than triple her monthly rent, which had been 500 euros, or about $570, according to her lawyer, Beatriz Duro. That was far more than Ms. Abascal, living on a €1,450 monthly pension, could afford.
The owners of Urbagestión, who did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, have previously disputed the account of the rent increase and said Ms. Abascal was simply not legally entitled to remain under the rent-controlled lease.
The yearslong legal battle between them ended with Spain’s Supreme Court siding with the landlord and approving the eviction.
On Sept. 23, after three failed attempts in previous months, the police removed Ms. Abascal from her apartment, after clearing out hundreds of activists who had barricaded the building to shield her. Her case quickly drew international attention and prompted the national government to respond.
“I wasn’t able to defend my home, but I did fight so that others can learn to fight for theirs,” Ms. Abascal said from her hospital bed after the eviction.
Days later, amid growing pressure, Ms. Abascal’s lawyer announced that she had reached a deal with the building owner that would allow her to return home. Under the agreement, she would have received an eight-year lease with a monthly rent equal to 30 percent of her pension, or about $460.
Ms. Abascal’s eviction marked a “turning point” in Spain, putting housing at the center of the national debate, her representatives said. Spaniards, especially young people with low salaries, are finding it increasingly difficult to rent homes in many cities, as an influx of tourists, immigrants and wealthy foreign buyers adds to demand, while sluggish construction and a shortage of public housing constrain supply.
Spain has a housing shortfall of about 755,000 homes, according to the Bank of Spain.
Despite a sharp decline in evictions — to about 25,000 last year, from around 68,000 in 2014 — the issue remains politically delicate for the government, particularly after Mr. Sánchez promised before taking office to end them. The role of a real estate company in Ms. Abascal’s eviction also angered many on the left, who accuse private investment firms of driving up housing costs in Spain.
Mr. Sánchez blamed his conservative opponents for Ms. Abascal’s eviction, pointing to their role in defeating legislation in February that would have restricted evictions like hers.
The prime minister’s previous housing polices expanded tenants’ rights, but right-wing parties have argued that they hurt small property owners and encourage squatting. In 2025, the conservative regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, called Mr. Sánchez an “accomplice” of squatters.
On Tuesday, after calling snap elections following the defeat of his recent bill, Mr. Sánchez said his government would pass a similar measure through a smaller parliamentary body that remains active after Parliament is dissolved. He also called on voters to deliver a “progressive majority in Parliament,” framing the election in part as a choice between moneyed elites and everyday people.
“When Congress turns its back on what people are experiencing in the streets, the government cannot look the other way,” Mr. Sánchez said.
The full ramifications of Ms. Abascal’s eviction remain to be seen. The tenants’ union, along with labor unions, has called a general strike for November in response, and her case is likely to loom over the election campaign.
Ms. Abascal’s representatives, who asked that the family’s privacy be respected, said her death would strengthen their determination to “defend the right to housing and fight against speculators.”
“And above all, we will honor what she always asked of us,” the statement said: “Fight, keep fighting for what is yours.”
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