María del Carmen Feo, known as Carmita, one of the evicted residents of the Titerroy houses, passed away this past Wednesday in Lanzarote without being able to access her home for more than a decade.
"Evicted twice from a house, I trust that those who have deceived me with impunity during these 14 years have clean consciences and can rest peacefully when they sleep in their houses at night. I have not been able to do so for more than 14 years." The previous verses were written by Carmita and read at the last meeting of the Titerroy Neighborhood Association, held on September 28.
María del Carmen Feo died at the age of 79 in the municipality of Arrecife. She lived at her sister's house, after having suffered the eviction of her home in Titerroy and suffering a new eviction in another house in Arrecife due to the non-payment of the City Council itself.
The mass will take place on October 6 at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of the Atlantic Funeral Home. Then, she will be buried in the Arrecife cemetery. The funeral mass will take place on October 11 at 8:00 p.m. in the Titerroy church.
For his part, the president of the Titerroy Neighborhood Association, Ismael Montero, wanted to dedicate a few words to María del Carmen Feo: "As of today, another neighbor has been left behind after passing away, without being able to see how justice is done. Deepest condolences to the family."
Complete letter from the evicted neighbor
To whom it may concern,
It is very difficult for me to put on paper all the accumulated sensations since my life changed forever that month of July of the year 2009.
Hardships and difficulties, mine and my children's, that have not had an institutional response that lives up to the circumstances that we have had to live through. Only silence, continuous deceptions, apathy and abandonment.
Today, with the perspective that time gives, I have managed to understand that everything has been an authentic mockery and that no one, ever, no institution, has had the interest or will to help me recover my home, although with their gestures and public statements they intended to show the opposite.
Along this path I have lost my husband as a result of a long and painful illness. Nothing and no one is going to make me recover the lost time. I do not intend to because I have lived what I have had to live. Nor is it the end of a writing with which I only intend to stir consciences, if there were any, and leave a record of what I have suffered so that it does not happen again, so that any politician concerned about the well-being of citizens knows what not to do.
This bad dream started 14 years ago when the roof of a house on Timbayba street collapsed, which, unfortunately, ended the life of a young man. Simultaneously, that event transformed forever the lives of the neighboring homeowners.
More effective than effective, more concerned with offering answers to the media than in solving the problem for those affected, the professionals of the Technical Office of the Arrecife City Council began a series of visits, almost daily, to, in theory, determine the reasons for the accident and the real risk of a new collapse.
However, it was not until May 9, 2013, almost four years later, when I was forced to vacate my home overnight. They arrived, reinforced the house with eight props and ordered me to leave my home almost immediately. I will never forget it. It was a Thursday and they gave me until Monday: a weekend to close a house and leave behind a whole life, who knew at that time if forever. It is a sad coincidence, in addition, that my husband was in his terminal phase those days.
I requested an extension from the technicians to be able to collect my things. With the only help of my children, I packed the most necessary things and started looking for a temporary home, a roof under which to sleep and turn into a house until I could return to my home.
On August 1, 2013, I signed a rental contract charged to the Arrecife City Council, which took care of announcing it to the media.
The Arrecife City Council did not fulfill its commitment and on April 19, 2018, the owner informed me of his intention to sue me if within a month he did not receive the amount of the 18 months that the City Council owed him. It is true that the previous payments had been made discontinuously, never on time, but this situation is reached as a result of a shameful and embarrassing management. Not only did they deceive those who suffered the eviction of their home but also those who gave us the possibility of getting our heads above water in a tremendously complex moment.
On July 9, 2018, I handed over the key to that rental house due to non-payment by the Arrecife City Council. Without a roof to shelter me at a price I could pay, my sister took me into her own house. Only 16 days later, on July 25, 2018, I presented a letter to the Deputy of the Common informing of this new eviction. No one ever answered.
Previously, on October 10, 2016, my son filed a complaint with the Local Police of Arrecife. They entered my old house, stole what little I had left there, and occupied it. The complaint was registered, but no one ever answered us or, as far as we know, moved a finger to solve it either.
Today, I still live at my sister's house.
Recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, on July 18 I asked the Arrecife City Council for help to face the winter of my life. Unfortunately, I did not receive any response either.
Today, tired of promises full of words, but empty of content, and fed up with politicians more concerned with signing pacts than with the lives of people, I no longer ask for anything for myself. Nor for my children, for whom I only have words of gratitude. I only hope, as I said, that this nonsense will never happen again.
I also want to express my gratitude to the Titerroy Neighborhood Association and its president, Ismael Montero, for the help they have given me during this time; for their interest; for their contagious enthusiasm and for the constant push they have always given to this matter.
Evicted twice from a house, I trust that those who have deceived me with impunity during these fourteen years have clean consciences and can rest peacefully when they sleep in their houses at night. I have not been able to do so for more than 14 years.
