Dolores Campos, 59, from Lanzarote, still can't believe what she is experiencing. One of her best friends has been occupying her house, which is officially protected in Los Alonso, for three years. The squatter, who was her mother's caregiver, "set a trap to betray her and stay inside her house."
"We were friends since we were 18 years old, we are both from the island and we have known each other forever," the woman told La Voz. "I never imagined she would be like this," she said.
A sentimental crisis was the excuse she used to enter her house. "She told me that she wanted to separate from her partner and I decided to let her stay in my house for a couple of months." The woman's good faith was what prompted the squatter to lock herself in the house. "She made a copy of the keys and went in and out when I wasn't there," she admits. After her mother's death in 2020, Campos, who "was under psychiatric treatment," took her best friend's advice. "She told me to go with my family to Gran Canaria," at which point she took the opportunity to occupy her house.
In addition, she admits that she treated her very well. "I helped her a lot, I even left her a thousand euros to go and have a check-up at the dentist for a mouth infection," she confesses to the newspaper.
She assures that her former friend has tried to deceive her at all times, to the point of ending up faking an illness. "She lied to me saying she had breast cancer," she revealed with great sadness. She highlights the profile of her ex-friend as a "deceptive, manipulative, dangerous, and distorting" person, she added. In addition, she relates that "it is not the first house she occupies." "It is the third house she occupies in the same building, one for her and another for her daughter," she clarifies.
After two favorable judgments, the squatter still does not leave the house
Dolores Campos's great concern is not being able to return to her house. After winning two judgments, she regrets that she is still "unable to recover her house" and the squatter "does not leave it," she emphasizes. "I have already won two firm judgments both in Lanzarote and in the Provincial Court of Gran Canaria, but she does not leave there," she shows indignantly.
The reason why they can't kick her out is that "the social services of the town hall have made a report and say that she is in a situation of vulnerability," the woman acknowledges. Something she doesn't believe. "In these three years, the court of Arrecife has dismissed the situation of vulnerability, since she pays a private lawyer, an alarm in my home, and other resources," she points out.
A situation that has turned around and made Dolores a victim. "I am living in a family apartment in the Titerroy neighborhood in poor conditions, in a painful area," she says. "The roof of the house is made of wood and I get wet when it rains," she stressed. She affirms categorically that there is only one victim. "The one who has the situation of vulnerability is me, not her."
In addition to being in that situation, she has to see that she takes over her belongings. "She has filled the three windows of the rooms and the main door of the house with bars," she reveals. An action in which she has everything measured. "She has put the water and electricity in her name and on top of that, she has registered in the address," adds the desperate woman.
Dolores's request is firm. "I don't want her to pay, but I want her to leave my house." "The normal thing is that the law makes her leave my house," she complains devastated by the injustice. She recognizes that she "continues to suffer" after years of fighting to get the woman out of her house. "I can't make ends meet, I've had to miss work, and on top of that I'm paying lawyers, mortgage, electricity and water," she lists.
The eviction was stopped 15 minutes before
The end of July 2022 and last July 28, 2023, were the dates of the eviction order. On the last occasion, 15 minutes before the eviction, she found out that it had been stopped. A piece of news that the squatter happily received. "Her lawyer called her to tell her that she was staying in the house, since the Housing Department of the Government of the Canary Islands had alleged that she was in a situation of vulnerability," she emphasizes. Although she was already "prepared waiting and had vacated the house, she had already taken her things out," she recalls.
Dolores has already gone through two lawyers. The last one decided to abandon the case and now she has a new one, who has decided to fight with her to find a solution. "My new lawyer made another writing for the eviction last November 7," she says.
"I want to believe in justice, but I have neither hope nor encouragement"
What she wants and asks is that justice be done. She does not understand that she has to be living such a serious situation. "I have already won two trials, the law has to act and the eviction has to be done again," she implores. "Nobody understands it, it is a unique case, I want to believe in justice, but I have neither hope nor encouragement," she says through tears. A situation that has led her to suffer depression and to take medication, she confessed to La Voz.