A minute of silence for Maricarmen brought Vigo’s socialists together. The absence of PP and BNG sharpened a dispute over rent controls and the city’s housing policy.
PP and BNG were absent from the ceremony outside Vigo city hall. The Concello de Vigo held a minute of silence for Maricarmen after the 87-year-old woman died following her eviction from her home in Madrid on 23 September.
Socialist councillors attended alongside the Zona Franca delegate. The mayor of Gondomar also joined the tribute.
The memorial quickly became a dispute over political responsibility and housing policy. Local officials organised the event as the controversy around Maricarmen moved from Madrid into Vigo’s debate over rent protection. RTVE and El País reported that she had lived for more than 70 years in a flat on Alcalde Sainz de Baranda in Madrid’s Retiro district. The 23 September eviction was the fourth attempt to remove her, despite her disability and limited mobility.
The rent reportedly rose from about €500 to €2,650 a month after the change of ownership and the end of the previous contract. The property was identified in independent reports as belonging to the investment company Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión SL.
BNG spokesperson Xabier Pérez Rodríguez said he and his colleagues were attending an institutional visit to the Conxemar frozen-food fair. He criticised the council’s notification process, arguing that the groups should have been contacted earlier and by telephone rather than only by email.
The disagreement over the ceremony was brief. The housing dispute was not. After the eviction, Maricarmen was taken to Gregorio Marañón Hospital, where she spent about two weeks before dying on 7 October, according to the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid. Her death turned the case into a national symbol of rising rents and the protection available to elderly tenants with disabilities.
Alianza pola Vivenda de Vigo called and organised a demonstration through the city centre a week earlier. On the day of the tribute, the group renewed its demand to mayor Abel Caballero. It wants Vigo to apply rent controls through the declaration of zonas tensionadas.
On 28 September, representatives of Maricarmen and the property company reached an agreement intended to allow her to return to the flat. The compromise came only after the eviction and her hospitalisation, and did not prevent the subsequent deterioration of her condition. The case also prompted a large protest in Madrid on 26 September and became part of a wider national campaign for affordable housing.
Caballero does not support that route at present. The mayor favours other complementary measures, leaving the housing alliance without the response it is seeking.
The case had already been covered in an earlier report, but the Vigo ceremony added a distinct local dimension. A Madrid eviction now sits inside a municipal argument over whether controlling rental prices should take priority over other measures. The dispute reaches beyond the legality of one eviction. It also concerns what happens when a long-standing tenancy ends and the proposed rent rises sharply.
The venue gave the argument a visible political setting. Socialist representatives stood before the main facade of the Concello de Vigo with the Zona Franca delegate. The mayor of Gondomar was also present. BNG cited a prior institutional commitment and challenged the notification process, while the source records no participation from PP.
Alianza pola Vivenda used the tribute to press for a specific policy, while Abel Caballero rejected that proposal. Reports on Maricarmen’s case have linked the Vigo demand to a national campaign for affordable housing. Caballero favours other complementary measures.
