• MARTIN MUCHA

    @Mart1nMucha

Updated Tuesday,30May2023-15:16

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Daniel Esteve has been called a "Nazi" (Pablo Iglesias and Echenique). They point to him for "criminalizing poverty." We will ask him about those allegations. We walked through Madrid, his new city of residence. He came here from his native Barcelona. "There they have threatened me with death, they have cut even the brakes of the car ...", he says. It does not go unnoticed. A father with his son in his arms, approaches. "Always strong!" he tells her, alluding to the most common farewell in his videos. It's Dani, like you," he adds. "Thank you," Esteve replies. "To you, because of what you do," says the spontaneous dad. Both reactions are the heads and tails of a character who has become popular for his work: desokupar. "It always happens. They are people who appreciate that we fight against the mafias of squatting."

He has just left his sports car with more than 300 horses in the parking lot. He wears a white designer shirt – with small dark details – and a matching black jacket. No military T-shirts. Or wear tattoos. Your walk through Bravo Murillo and Ponzano streets is completed with whispers and more greetings. We sat in the corner of a bar. Ask for sparkling mineral water and a slice of lemon. He comes to talk about how his name and that of his company has broken into the elections, the threats with its illegalization... In this virulent wave, no one stops to ask him. They attack or flatter him. The criterion of equidistance does not seem to go with him.

-They have just published that they have arrested him twice.

-They are wrong even when they go for me ... . There have been quite a few more times. I am 52 years old and it has been most of the time when I was young, in altercations, in trouble in discos, for minor things ... But, beware, I do not have blood crimes like terrorists.

-And by actions of Desokupa?

-Once and it was because of a false complaint that was filed. Let me explain. It was in La Latina (Madrid). Four Dominicans came out with knives and tried to stab us. We called the police ourselves. One accused me of assaulting them. But they released me when they realized it was a false allegation. It did not record or have any effect. I could hide it, but that's what happened.

Are you, as Belarra says, a rabble that must be outlawed... or a Nazi, who calls him a ruffian, or criminalizes poverty, who says Echenique? "Of course I'm no Nazi. I have black friends, gypsies, people from everywhere... I do not stop helping really vulnerable families who are deprived of their homes, we have already 252 free performances, many of grannies who could not afford our services. I love animals and I don't stop organizing rescues of abandoned people. There's also what I do for children with cancer..."

-Let's go back to his company -in 2017- when he was still living in Barcelona, he had recovered 270 properties... That figure is now obsolete.

-We have reached 8,000 desokupaciones. In the pandemic we grew by 200% because what is known as inquiokupas [tenants who stop paying rent and stay squatting the house] went up. And, despite all the bad copies, last year we're up another 300%. We sell franchises and we already have five in Alicante, Almeria, Gerona, Hospitalet... And yet we don't go below 300 calls a day. Our reputation is unblemished. What all those who accuse us – politicians and media – forget to mention is that we do not have any judicial conviction. No. I think that's the most important thing...

Pablo Iglesias calls them "Nazis", "thugs who take drugs..."

-It also says that we beat immigrant families and women. I show you the complaint against him for insults and crime to honor. If all goes well, he will be condemned.

Are you accused without evidence?

-That's what my lawyers don't understand... We have been mentioned thirty times in Congress. But they have parliamentary immunity. He has pointed out Ruffian calling us "Nazis" as well. He luckily or unfortunately has that immunity. But Pablo Iglesias, no. Who is he now? A radio announcer. Now he will have to get a sentence for beating up an immigrant mother or a photo linking me to someone Nazi. Or you're going to lose that judgment. And believe me, that evidence doesn't exist.

-Pablo Echenique says that it "criminalizes poverty"...

-You have to take a look at everything I do for vulnerable families, for children with cancer, for animal rescue... There is a famous building that we desokupamos in Madrid where we gave 40,000 euros to help families. We've helped grandparents who can't afford us... You just have to talk to those people who are grateful.

Esteve shows us his tests, with photos and videos. Of the hugs of those old people who thought they had lost their homes. Of his late friend with cancer for whom he created a foundation, of the dogs he has saved... We have witnessed directly the joy of neighborhood communities that have freed themselves from drug traffickers who threatened an entire building, children, women. Also of the free classes of self-defense to battered women. They thank Spaniards, immigrants, families who just want to live in peace. "They're friends," he says.

-Figures?

-We have recovered 210 narcopisos. Free. We have 252 cases of people who can not afford our bill (from 3,000 euros). Free. You won't read that in most media.

Why do you think it is the center of attacks from a certain left? How does it even become part of the election campaign?

I think the advisers have made a mistake. Because all attacks are based on insults and slander. You can tell they are resentful. They and the unprepared TV talk shows. I always ask them: do you have a headline or a sentence or, at least, a video that proves what you say? They shut up.

They threw a stone the size of a watermelon at me. If I get to give it I would have died instantly. I've been shot twice through a door...

-He confronts them face to face...

-Every time I do it less because I have more impact and I explain myself better from my social networks [tens of millions of visits]. A presenter recently said, he didn't ask me, "if I didn't have a bad conscience for taking out vulnerable families..." My answer: "I'm going to tell you about those vulnerable families, my last three most notorious cases... Bonanova: they go out with axes, attack children. Majadahonda: North Africans with knives, stab one of ours. The case we did for free, in Madrid, of a grandmother who was robbed of all her things by Africans. When you talk about vulnerable families do you mean these cases? His reply: "Well, Daniel, good afternoon, see you later." They have no arguments.

-The new housing law?

They made an electioneering use of that law. How is a totally legal company going to be illegal? It is unconstitutional. It doesn't affect me.

-Ione Belarra has announced a reform of the Penal Code to end Desokupa. He calls them riffraff.

-When I get the headline, I laugh out loud first. She proposes it at a rally and hours later her government partners throw it back. His sleep lasted 18 hours.

-Do you already have agreements with municipalities?

-I have spoken with 15 large municipalities, of more than 100,000 people, to open a squatting office... I want to clarify one thing, I am not in favor of Vox. I am in favour of any brave party that wants to fight against squatting. Be it the PP or any other. I don't care what color it is.

Podemos and United Left?

"I know they're not going to call me, because their voters are the ones who occupy the houses...

-Are there PSOE town halls?

Precisely where the coalition is needed to govern. They have called to be interested, yes...

They know that the issue of squatting is decisive. In municipalities where the Socialists govern it is perceived as an issue that weighs them down. On May 26, in an interview with EL MUNDO, Núria Parlon, mayor of Santa Coloma (Barcelona), candidate for re-election, is blunt: "Squats have to be resolved with an iron fist." Without palliatives. García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, has had no hesitation in beating Podemos with this issue: "Obscene, they have no idea"... And abroad it horrifies what British, Nordic, Germans live... with their second homes.

-The problem is international since... It has foreign clients.

-It is, except for those who say it does not exist, that it is a virtual reality. That it is an invention of the right... The other day we recovered his villa in Ibiza from a London prosecutor. It was occupied by a gypsy and three Moroccan traffickers. They threatened to shoot us. With that test, because it is recorded, we managed to get them out.

Is there such a level of lack of control?

-The images of squatters with axes chasing neighbors have, only in our networks, 11 million views. They have reached all over the world.

How many times have you been threatened with death?

-Thousands. I have been shot twice, the CDRs put a bomb on me, they cut my brake fluid cable... It is the price to pay.

-I remember a desokupación in Atocha (Madrid) and the faces of the families. The smell of the place...

-They lived a hell. It was nauseating. They had been going on for years.

How can you have the myopia to deny squatting? When he's on the podium of what voters care about most...

-I deny myopia. They see it but look away. On television programs, people who confront me, at the end, have asked me for a card. They have no shame.

-He has had on those same sets policemen who openly say that what he does is illegal ...

-Not anymore. Disrupt, with data, any argument. To civil guards, police, Mossos... We have recovered 483 houses from them.

Opens your message list. That's hundreds of orders. Each with greater despair. And yes, there is a good group of these who are members of the State Security Forces and Corps... Their relationship reaches higher. "I pass on information about jihadism, because I enter flats and I find that. We have found flats squatted by jihadists. We immediately bring it to the attention of the authorities." We.

-In a report about you they say that you kicked a boxing opponent who was on the ground ...

-They take things out of context, it was an MMA (mixed martial arts) fight, not boxing. It was allowed. Hundreds of inaccuracies are told in my life.

Daniel, are you a neo-Nazi?

I hate that kind of symbology and political current or whatever. They will never be able to prove it. I have black friends, gypsies, transvestites... I say the latter because they also say I'm homophobic. It's an easy resource. My head is shaved for comfort. My tattoos are Maori, tribal...

-He doesn't have an 88 hidden...

"I don't even know what it is.

-Represents the Heil Hitler.

"I don't have any of that.

Would you have a neo-Nazi on your team? Someone who has mistreated an immigrant?

-No. I also have to say that everyone has the right to repent and rebuild their life. We are seeing a party put convicted murderers on its lists. Right now in my company I try to control it a lot and I don't hire them because it can splash me. But I repeat, I believe in the right to start over.

A grandmother cries after learning that she has recovered her house. Little Alberto, whom Esteve helped and was able to extend his life for another year. With a rescued dog. PERSONAL ALBUM

-They treat him like a disco gorilla.

-I studied and I have always worked. In clubs too and I've always wanted to improve. I have the title of watchman, escort, head of security... I am also trained in shooting, in self-defense... I try to be the best in what I do and in this case, in what I do, I have achieved it.

-Few know that he is polyglot.

-I know five languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, Italian and French.

-By telling badly even questions where he was born.

-I'm from Barcelona, from the Hospital Clinic neighborhood. From a very humble family, my parents had a menu bar. Five brothers lived in a 50 m2 apartment. We slept in bunk beds in the same room.

From that to driving an extraordinary Porsche...

-I earn it. I risk my life on the street. I pay my taxes...

-How much?

-My managers take it... I have nothing to hide. In a good month we exceed 600,000 euros of income. A bad one, we didn't reach 30,000. We earned it.

What goes through your head when a squatter comes towards you with an axe?

-It's you or him. What we are trying to do is reduce him, take away his gun and hand him over to the police. In Majadahonda, a stone the size of a watermelon was thrown at me from a fourth floor. If I get to give it I would have died instantly. I've been shot twice through a door.

-Little is said about the children he helps, the rescued animals ...

-I have the tattoo of Alberto, a deceased child with cancer. We extended his life by one year. Support with doctors and campaigns. I gave him my word that I would continue to help. Of my six dogs, five are rescued. That's another project of mine with a policeman. I pay thousands of euros in operations of animals that I do not even know. Look, being right-wing, I'm against hunting and bullfighting. That's why I will never be able to vote for Vox.

-How many scars do you have to desokupar?

"They haven't managed to hurt me...

- Will he die in a desokupación?

-No. I am protected by children with cancer. I am immortal.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more

  • Squatters
  • Ada Colau
  • Barcelona
  • Housing Law
  • Housing
  • Pablo Iglesias
  • Ione Belarra
  • Gabriel Rufián
  • Pablo Echenique