Austerity Ostracizing

The intensification of the financial crisis in Spain, and across Europe, is having very real effects on the lives of people. 

Photo Credit: Anarcho Queer

Beyond the rise in the unemployment rate, widespread foreclosures across Spain have caused at least two suicides over the past few weeks, along with one unsuccessful attempt in the city of Valencia. Feeling ostracized and completely hopeless about the current austerity measures and mortgage horrors, these people were left feeling they had no other choice but to end their lives. The latest case, reported on Friday, involved a 53-year-old woman who jumped from her sixth-story balcony in the Basque city of Barakaldo as foreclosure agents forced open her door.

The latest victim has been Amaya Egana, a former municipal councilwoman for the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. According to Spanish daily El Pais, Egana jumped to her death from a sixth-floor balcony on Friday as a legal team from the local court walked into her apartment to foreclose on her. Receiving no response after ringing the bell and knocking on the door, a locksmith opened the door, only to find Egana standing on a chairto jump from her balcony. Egana was found alive initially, but paramedics had no chances of saving her since she jumped immediately when they arrived.

Egana’s suicide isn't the first related to foreclosures in Spain; on October a 25, 53-year-old Jose Miguel Domingo was found dead, just hours before foreclosure agents arrived at his apartment. Domingo hung himself after not having been able to pay interest payments on a €240,000 mortgage that went sour in 2009. A day after, another man whose name hasn't been disclosed jumped from his window in the city of Valencia. The man attempted to commit suicide minutes before foreclosure agents arrived at his apartment; this time, though, paramedics managed to save his life.

The suicide of Egana has been like the straw that broke the camel’s back. A social repudiation of banks’ foreclosure practices has made its way to Madrid, where the Administration of Mariano Rajoy is working on a planto give sub prime debtors some relief. According to El Pais, Rajoy is looking to put into place a two year foreclosure moratorium for sub prime debtors. With Spain falling even deeper into the rabbit hole, as Rajoy refuses to take a bailout and borrowing costs rise, the situation could deteriorate further. Beyond economic losses, these recent events are direct evidence that financial crises have the potential to completely destroy the lives of ordinary individuals.