Argentina

Buenos Aires, October 8, 2026. The Argentine press is devoting extensive coverage to the death of María del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, announced on Wednesday, October 7, by the Madrid Tenants' Union. She was 87 years old and died at the Gregorio Marañón hospital, where she had been hospitalized since her eviction on September 23, after more than 70 years in the same apartment.

La Nación takes a national angle. Its article recalls that the photo of the elderly woman being evacuated on a stretcher made the rounds of the world, and then poses a question that concerns Argentina: what happens when one reaches old age as a tenant, with income that is no longer the same? The newspaper specifies that Maricarmen had not stopped paying: she was paying the amount that her retirement could cover, but not the increase demanded. It relies on a report by Matías Araujo, from the Fundación Tejido Urbano, which compares the residential trajectories of Spain and Argentina, and asserts that the case has points of contact with a situation that affects Argentine retirees head-on.

Infobae, from its Spanish section, is following the event live. The site attributes the eviction to the spark of indignation against housing policy, with demonstrations and encampments, especially at the Puerta del Sol, and links two rejected decrees in Congress to the general elections. It quotes the Union, for which "rentism kills", as well as the message from Pedro Sánchez ("All my affection to Maricarmen's family") and the response from Alberto Núñez Feijóo: "No campaign, no parties, no self-interested use." It also cites the very harsh reaction of ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián, and the video recorded at the hospital, where Maricarmen hoped that her case "would serve so that it does not happen to others".

Perfil insists on the political dimension. After a minute of silence, the protesters marched towards Congress shouting "Maricarmen lives, the struggle continues". The newspaper recalls that Sánchez announced early elections for November 29, after the rejection of two housing decrees, that the Sol encampment continues despite this, and that the Union has called for a general housing strike in November. For the three media outlets, Maricarmen has become a symbol, and her death occurs after an agreement for her return home had been reached, without it being able to materialize.