A couple around 60 years old has occupied a house in the neighborhood of Los Geranios, in Arrecife, after the bank foreclosed their apartment. The children of the owner of the house, who is admitted to the Insular Hospital and whose husband passed away, have already reported this appropriation to the courts. The couple does not plan to leave this apartment, located on Peñas del Espino street, and assures that "it was abandoned and uninhabited for five or six months".
The "squatters" are called Antonio Medina Cabrera and Olegaria Rodríguez and are 63 and 59 years old, respectively. This couple has lost their house, located in the Titerroy neighborhood, after the bank foreclosed it for not being able to afford the mortgage. "I was paying 700 euros and my retirement is 1,000 euros. How, how do I eat?, how do I pay for electricity and water? Suddenly I see myself without a house, after having worked all my life, since I was 12 years old in masonry", Antonio laments.
Antonio says that when he found himself on the street, an acquaintance told him that in Los Geranios there was a house that was uninhabited. He decided to break the lock and occupy this place. "This had been closed for months, so I came at Christmas, around the 24th, I don't remember well", says this man, while showing the poor condition of the house. "The first days we had to wear a mask, because you couldn't be there. Everything is a mess, the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom... Even the neighborhood kids would come in here to play with the girls. They had broken the lock on the back terrace and spent hours in here", he says.
The state of the house
Antonio and Olegaria now live in this two-story house, which is in very poor condition. They sleep on a sofa bed, the only piece of furniture they have, but they have water and electricity that "they don't know who pays for". The humidity inside the house "is unbearable" and, therefore, the daughter and grandson of this couple, who were also going to move to this place, have finally been taken in by another relative.
"We haven't done any work, but we have painted the top part. It was full of holes, we have plastered all the walls. The smell and humidity are terrible. Living here is not easy either, everything was a mess. I have to leave the windows open to get rid of the humidity. When we entered, the shelves were thrown away, the furniture broken, and the rooms full of pee and poop. I have taken out bags and bags of garbage from here. There was shit, it was abandoned", he justifies.
Where are we going to live?
Antonio knows that this house has owners and understands that they claim what is theirs. However, he justifies this action by saying that "in the house only mice and cockroaches lived, nothing more". This man has not spoken with the owners of the house, despite the fact that he says that they had a quarrel with his wife at the doors of the building. However, they have received a warning from the Local Police, who informed the couple that they had been reported to the Court. "They told us to wait for the judge to say something. The logical thing is that they throw us out but, where are we going to live?", he asks.
Thus, he is aware that he can be evicted, but he launches a warning: "If they throw me out I am going to live in the courthouse, the government delegation, the City Hall or the Cabildo. I'm not going under a bridge or to the street. I'm going to keep staying here. Until they throw me out I'm staying", he indicates.
He says that he prefers to go to jail -"so I know it", he says-, since in prison he will have "a roof to sleep under". "I will feel sorry for my wife and my family, who think this measure is crazy, but we have no other solution. My wife and I could have gone to live, she at a son's house and I at another's, but what kind of marriage is that?", he laments.
No comments from the owners
For their part, the children of the owner of the house prefer not to give their opinion, nor make any kind of comments. Their father died a few months ago and their mother is admitted to the Insular Hospital. "We don't want to talk until the judge speaks", says one of those affected, who filed this complaint last Thursday. "I returned to my parents' house and realized that they had changed the lock. The complaint has been filed and I hope that Justice will take care of doing justice", she emphasizes.
The neighbors, on the other hand, indicate that this house had been "uninhabited for almost a year" and affirm that, for the moment, they have not had problems with the new tenants.