Maricarmen Abascal has an agreement to recover her home, but she still cannot return. The 87-year-old woman, whose eviction triggered protests and encampments for the right to housing, remains hospitalized at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid while her surroundings express concern for the deterioration of her health.
RTVE reported this Friday that her condition had worsened, citing family members, legal representatives, and the Tenants' Union. The concern remains after negotiations with the property opened the possibility of returning to the apartment in the Retiro district where she lived for more than seven decades.
The agreement represents a way out for her residential situation. Her recovery, however, remains pending the clinical evolution and the decisions of the team that is attending to her.
"Her health is really complicated"
The spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, Alicia del Río, explained on Wednesday that Maricarmen was still hospitalized on the ward and undergoing tests. "Her health is really complicated," she noted in statements collected this Friday by El Español, in which she also requested respect for her privacy and that of her family.
The deputy mayor of Madrid, Inma Sanz, conveyed a similar concern on Thursday. According to the same newspaper, she explained that the information received by the City Council did not indicate a discharge in the short term and that the district's social services maintained contact with her.
Her cousin Vicente has also described a worsening. In statements broadcast by the program Y ahora Sonsoles, from Antena 3, he assured that she was "more deteriorated compared to previous days" and that they were awaiting the results of the tests.
These reports reflect the observations of those who accompany her. They do not detail a public medical diagnosis that allows specifying the cause of the deterioration or establishing a prognosis.
The return to her home remains pending discharge
Maricarmen has been hospitalized since September 23, when she was evicted and transferred to the hospital. Days later, her representatives reached an agreement with Urbagestión, the owner of the property, through the mediation of the Municipal Housing and Land Company.
The agreement includes an eight-year contract and a rent adjusted to her income. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, confirmed to RTVE that Maricarmen had accepted the conditions and that she wanted to return home when she received the discharge.
The news of the agreement had opened an expectation of relief. The lawyer described her as happy and hopeful to recover her home, although she was already warning that her health was delicate. The possibility of returning and the concern for her condition have coexisted since then.
## Why Maricarmen became a symbol
The impact of her story is understood by gathering its elements: an 87-year-old woman, a home in which she spent almost her entire life, and images of the eviction that showed her being carried out on a stretcher. Her case put a face to a discussion that is usually expressed through prices, contracts, and statistics.
RTVE documented how the eviction was followed by protests in different cities and returned the housing emergency to the center of political confrontation. The slogan "Not one more Maricarmen" turned her name into a demand that overflowed the individual solution of her case.
In that identification lies much of its public meaning: the possibility of losing the house after decades of living in it connects the insecurity of those seeking their first rental with that of those who believed they had a stable home for old age.
Her own message: keep fighting for others
Maricarmen has also participated in the construction of that meaning. From the hospital, in her first public message after the eviction, she thanked for the support received and asked that the mobilization continue: "I have not managed to defend my house, but I have fought for others to learn to fight for theirs."
Now, the concern for her health brings attention back to the person behind the symbol. While her name remains present in the squares and in the political debate, Maricarmen remains in the hospital. The return home that she desires still depends on her recovery.