María del Carmen Abascal, widely known as Maricarmen, died at Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital on October 7, 2026, two weeks after she was evicted from the Retiro apartment where she had lived for more than 70 years. She had been hospitalized since the eviction, but no cause of death had been announced.
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The eviction and hospital stay
Abascal was removed from her home on September 23. Reports said police and social workers took her out on a stretcher, and that she was admitted to hospital that day. Reuters reported that she remained hospitalized with severe anxiety and exhaustion until her death.
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Her long residence in the apartment began with her family: the BBC reported that her father first rented it in 1956 and that Abascal continued living there after her parents died. The property was bought by Urbagestión in 2018. The BBC reported that the company sought a substantial rent increase, initially citing €2,650 a month before reducing the proposed amount to €1,650.
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A return agreement came too late
After public pressure, Abascal reached an agreement that would have allowed her to return to the apartment. She died in hospital before she could leave and go home.
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That agreement did not change the central uncertainty around her death: reports described her hospitalization and the events preceding it, but no cause of death was announced. The chronology alone does not establish that the eviction caused her death.
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Why her case drew national attention
Abascal’s eviction became a focus of protests over housing in Spain. After her death, thousands marched from Madrid’s Puerta del Sol to her former home; the reported demonstration ended with a minute of silence and chants in her memory.
37 Reuters reported that protests over housing shortages and rising rents following the eviction prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snap election.
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The public response made her case a wider flashpoint in Spain’s housing debate. But the clearest account of the circumstances of her death remains limited: she died in hospital after two weeks there, and no cause had been made public.
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