Anti-repossession campaigner's suicide over mortgage payments sparks protest
Monday, July 28, 2014 @ 8:24 PM
CROWDS of around 500 demonstrated in Granada after a father-of-two committed suicide this week when his mortgage lenders repossessed the family home.
Protesters from the pressure group Stop Desahucios ('stop evictions') say the deceased was one of their members who had been campaigning along with them to prevent homeowners being bodily removed from their properties because redundancy had left them unable to meet their mortgage repayments.
They say their fellow campaigner, who was married with two young children aged 11 and three, attempted to negotiate with lender Banco Mare Nostrum when he lost his job and was unable to keep up repayments.
Gustavo Argüellas Calvo took his own life on the night of Friday, July 25 and his funeral was held yesterday (Sunday).
A former construction worker, the deceased had very limited chances of ever finding a job again in the foreseeable future, despite trying, because of the market for new homes having fallen completely flat, and although he tried retraining for other types of work, had been unsuccessful in his quest for employment.
After being unable to pay the mortgage for three months, Gustavo presented all the paperwork he needed to prove his family's difficult financial situation and apply for a five-year payment holiday with the quotas accumulated during this time added onto the overall loan term.
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