Spanish Woman Commits Suicide As Foreclosure Agents Enter Home, Prime Minister Halts Evictions
A Spanish woman committed suicide just as foreclosure agents began beating on her door, RadarOnline reports.
Fifty-three-year-old Amaya Egaña, a former Socialist politician, jumped from her sixth-story balcony while a legal team waited to foreclose on her home. The representatives were from La Caixa Bank in Barakaldo, Spain and were forced to call a locksmith when Egaña didn’t answer the door.
As they entered the home, the agents found the victim standing on a chair right before she jumped from the balcony.
Egaña was found alive, but paramedics were unable to save her. She and her husband had an original mortgage debt of 164,000 euros ($208,476), but that amount quickly rose to 213,000 euros ($270,765) because of interest payments and other charges. Their home had been auctioned for 190,000 euros ($241,528).
Egaña’s suicide came 15 days after another 53-year-old, Jose Luis Domingo, hanged himself before bank representatives came to evict him from his home in Granada.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in the streets of Madrid Friday as well as in Egaña’s hometown of Barakaldo. Protestors yelled “Guilty!” and “Shame!” as they denounced banks for continuing to evict unemployed homeowners and those affected by the eurozone crisis.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy temporarily halted evictions of the most vulnerable families as the government tries to find a way to help people stay in their homes. He is also looking for a way to make the banks better apply their codes of conduct and to renegotiate debts.
“It’s a difficult subject and I hope we will soon be able to give good news to all the Spanish people,” Rajoy said.
