This is how the 'operation' to kick out the residents of the block of a 'vulture' fund in Madrid begins: "You keep messages like that, okay?"

Ruth Diaz Madrid

Madrid

Updated Monday, February 12, 2024-00:01

• Speculation The rebellion of "people with a payroll" in Lavapiés against a 'vulture' fund: "Purchase must be avoided"

• Politics The PSOE asks to apply the housing law in Madrid so as not to expel neighbors from their homes

• Madrid A vulture fund demolishes the upper floor of the Torrijos Market, despite the fact that the stalls of four merchants remained: "There is nothing now"

It is the second time that it appears in Tribulete, 7. Although the company

Elix Rental Housing

is not yet the owner of the building, people who act as

mediators

between the tenancy and the company have already tried to sit down and talk to the neighbors in a individual to clear his exit from the property. While carrying out a report on the situation in this block, the umpteenth threatened by the purchase of one of the so-called

vulture

funds , EL MUNDO comes across the

mediator

's second attempt . He goes to the shoe store downstairs that has been run by three generations of the same family. With the excuse of knowing his situation or cases of "vulnerable families", he represents the beginning of a process to

achieve the agreed or unwanted move of the current residents

, anticipating the termination of their contracts.

The scene shows obscurantist and intimidating

strategies

, aimed at seeking individual negotiation to fracture the unity of the neighborhood and make it easier-cheaper to leave before welcoming new residents, tourists or more possible, after the renovation of the property.

It is 5:52 p.m. on February 6. The visitor is

María José Jiménez Cortiñas

, with a past in Podemos, although she now plays on the side of the investment funds, so reviled by the

purple ones

. At the head of the Podemos list in

2015

for Salamanca, Ciudadanos left her without a seat. Before, in her twenties, she had been on the PP lists, in the municipal elections of Ourense, in 1999. Today she is linked to Elix, the SOCIMI that intends to buy the block of

54 homes in the

Lavapiés

neighborhood

, if tomorrow they approve the shareholders a capital injection of 150 million euros.

The owner of the shoe store begins by warning the newcomer: «We already said that the neighbors were not going to talk to Elix until he presents his proposal, to everyone, in writing. "We said we wouldn't talk individually." The

mediator

justifies that someone called the office: "I have a message from the person at the espadrille shop, I don't know if there is another person...". "Well no," the hostess says.

- THE WORLD. But you are hired by Elix?

-

Mediator

.

Not yet, not yet.

I first want to know what there is and know if I can contribute or not.

- EM. Are you coming on your own?

-

Mediator

. No, no, I don't come on my own, what... what they have proposed to me, what they have told me is: "There is this situation." And I told him: "I want to know the families first to answer if I can contribute and if I can improve in the process."

María José Jiménez, Podemos candidate in 2015, together with Pablo Iglesias.PODEMOS

She insists again that she is only a "social worker", who is not yet hired, although

Elix

certifies that she is part of the firm's Assent team and, as can be confirmed on her social networks, she has been linked to this orbit. : From 2019 until October of last year, she was an attorney at the real estate manager

Anticipa Real State SL.

Juan Luis Aleña, also from the Elix Real Estate Assent team, was also on the first visit to Tribulete, on Saturday, February 3, coinciding with an act of protest by the neighborhood against the sale, which was joined by

Soleá Morente

and

Alberto San Juan

, among other artists, and who tried to stop the still current owners, four brothers who had agreed on the sale. But last Tuesday, María José Jiménez Cortiñas did not appear with that companion, but with a different man who remained in an escort position without intervening at any time. The neighbor says to him: "And you?"

-

Mediator

. No, no, he doesn't work, I was in the area... I wasn't working right now, I'm out of hours. I

have had social projects here in the

Lavapiés neighborhood for a long time.

- Neighbor. Well, I've asked the Dragons [a sports club in the neighborhood, with half a thousand members from 50 nationalities] and they don't know you.

The

mediator

remains silent and reacts by appealing to the fact that she has the phone number of Walaâ [Walaâ Hechach], representative of the singer

Mala Rodríguez

. The neighbor counterattacks: "I have asked Dolores and Jorge, the ones who run everything [in Dragones] and don't know you." Elix's agent admits that she doesn't know who they are and the neighbor concludes: "Well, if you're in the Dragons and you don't know them..." Jiménez Cortiñas appeals again to Walaâ and to "a project they are designing with Mala Rodríguez." In addition to her past in politics, she has been president of Feminist Gitanas for Diversity for 10 years and worked, during the Manuela Carmena era, as head of Social Emergencies at the

Madrid City Council.

From that time, it is remembered by the

Secretariado Gitano Foundation

, where they are "surprised" and reject the negotiations proposed by Elix as "unacceptable," according to the neighborhood. From the company they affirm that the mediators are "responsible for speaking with the tenants to understand their situation, their needs and find the best solution for each one" and that the social worker has "

a clear social approach

to find the most appropriate option in each case".

- EM. You are not hired by anyone, but you are a social worker. So, are you going to do a project that you're going to present to Elix about families?

-

Mediator

. I'm not going, I'm not going to do any project, I...

- EM. But then, are you in volunteer mode?

-

Mediator

. Neither. Let's see, I'm not going to work on any project because there is no project yet, okay, there is no project. What I am going to see is whether I enter into a process that can support families or not.

- EM. But has this occurred to you yourself?

-

Mediator

. No, no, how am I going to think of it myself. If you want, look, [we'll talk] when I meet the

families who want to open the door for me

, because I'm going to do it, yes or yes, because it's my job and I'm going to do it...

The neighbor insists that "the neighbors stand together" and do not want to speak individually without a lawyer; The journalist asks the mediator if she "comes from someone" and she does not answer. Already in the third minute of dialogue and escapism, the conversation

heats up

and the tone rises.

Soleá Morente sang at the Tribulete protest event.JAVI MARTÍNEZ

- Neighbor. But if you don't work for Elix. So who pays you?

-

Mediator

. Let's see, look, listen to me, I

don't have to give you any answers

like that because, first of all, you don't want to talk to me.

- Neighbor. You're playing with money, you're playing with..., you're playing with...

-

Mediator

. I'm not playing with anyone. You're wrong. Look,

you keep messages like this to yourself

, okay?

- EM. But why do you want...? Sorry, just to clarify, why...?

-

Mediator

. No, I'm not going to answer anything else because I haven't been able to talk to any family yet. That's it. When I talk to families, anything you want, really, no problems.

- EM. What I don't understand is...

-

Mediator

.

You don't have to understand it!

- EM. I'm wondering, okay, excuse me. You're doing your job, I'm doing mine.

-

Mediator

. Yes, it seems very good to me. But I have already told you that I do not close the door to you doing your work, I will never prevent you from doing it. In fact I'll make it easier when I know what's there.

- EM. OK OK...

-

Mediator

. Thank you.

And he leaves wailing into the street, leaving the Tribulete neighborhood clearly upset after his visit.

"I never thought I would leave like this after so many years

," the shoe store owner is sad. "I want to stay, because all together."

A possible collective bargaining demands the

Madrid Tenants' Union

, also present in so many cases and with replicas in other Spanish cities, in the face of the divide and conquer with dubious methods of the companies that acquire the properties and that, subsequently,

"double or triple the rents, coupled with the expulsion of the neighbors"

, since "they need to obtain a great profitability in a very short period and cannot wait for the end of the contracts", they explain from the Union, about the lack of protection allowed by the current Housing Law. They propose limiting the increase between one contract and another, and not just limiting the annual increase with the same landlord. In Tribulete, as in other cases, they expect Elix to offer "pyrrhic and disadvantaged amounts of money, in a form of blackmail" to empty the homes.

The first protest of the residents of Tribulete, 7.JAVI MARTÍNEZ

The group advises Tribulete, together with the lawyer Alejandra Jacinto, Podemos candidate in the last regional elections and returned to the office after collaborating with Yolanda Díaz towards 23-J. "We see it in every conflict we have had in recent years," they say from the Union.

"They carry out these more guerrilla practices, so to speak, to intimidate

. "

In fact, they emphasize that "until Elix becomes the owner, she is not in a position to start a negotiation, so what they are trying to do with these informal contacts is to shake things up, try to find weaknesses." In the past, they have already dealt with the

mediator

, but they refuse to personalize it in her, although they claim to have "no reason to trust these figures."

They refer to experience, since Elix also acquired the

Galileo block, 22 (Chamberí)

, where they reported an attempted break-in. «They tried to enter a house, but the neighbor was inside and was able to stop them. Then it was claimed that it was an error, but the reality is what it is. They also report that another common practice is "introducing people related to the property into empty apartments or under the pretext of being hired, such as electricians or doormen, with the aim of

generating conflicts, tense the neighborhood environment, making some verbal threats

, causing damage and noisy...".

From Elix they defend that they are "a company with a marked industrial character, with more than 20 years of experience in which it has managed more than 2,000 homes in 100 buildings

without having had any conflict

." They confirm that they are not yet the owners of Tribulete, 7, although they do admit that "the company has shown interest in purchasing the building", since "its objective is to

improve the existing housing stock

and does not include luxury or tourist housing." Furthermore, they assert: «Elix reaffirms its interest and unequivocal commitment to seeking the best possible solution for tenants, as it has always done and demonstrates its track record in dealing with tenants. Elix's willingness to dialogue is total.

Yesterday Reyes Maroto visited the neighbors affected by the purchase of Elix Rental Housing.PSOE

The protest jumps into politics

The first protest occurred after Tribulete, 7 learned from the press of the intention to purchase its building, along with three others in

Tetuán, Ciudad Lineal

and

Barcelona

, ​​by Elix Rental Housing SOCIMI II. The fund is co-managed by the real estate manager Elix,

headed by

Teresa Marzo , and by

AltamarCAM

, a private asset investment firm, directed by

Claudio Aguirre

, a relative of Esperanza Aguirre, and

José Luis Molina

, who worked for Lehman Brothers for more than 10 years. years.

The acquisition of the property, owned by four brothers, has not yet been approved at the shareholders meeting scheduled for Tuesday, but the neighborhood affirms that

"the locks on the block are already being changed and alarms are being installed

. "

They complain: «What Madrid do we want? "The one with neighbors who work, greet each other and shop on the corner or the one with only tourists?"

The PSOE

spokesperson in the Madrid City Council,

Reyes Maroto

, also referred to the case yesterday

, denouncing "the model of speculative scam" installed in Madrid and asking the Community to apply the State Housing Law. While

Rita Maestre

, from

Más Madrid

, proposed last week that the City Council buy Tribulete, as was done in previous times with other properties.