Residents of Vallecas district call for eviction of 'María the Portuguese' over threats and assaults
Residents of an EMVS building in Vallecas have lived in fear for nearly a year since the arrival of Olga María, already convicted of assault and threats.
The nightmare of living with 'María the Portuguese' in Vallecas district
Residents of a Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS) development in the Vallecas district have lived for nearly a year, in their own words, "in fear". The trigger: the arrival in August 2025 of Olga María, known in the neighbourhood as 'María the Portuguese'. This is reported by El Mundo, which has gathered testimonies from multiple residents of the building.
Threats involving hired assassins, insults from the landing, punches, recordings of minors posted on social media and a cascade of cross-complaints have led the majority of the community to sign a petition demanding the "immediate" eviction of Olga María. In the same document they call on the EMVS, owner of the property, for urgent intervention because, they say, "they cannot take it any more".
A woman known throughout Vallecas
Olga María has been in the district for years, although she has lived in this particular building for barely one year. A local shopkeeper, who claims to have been hearing stories about her for years, sums it up like this: "She has caused trouble in every building in Vallecas where she has lived".
Laura—a fictitious name—has been in the block for 12 years and occupies one of the flats closest to Olga María's. A few months ago she made a decision she had never contemplated: temporarily abandon her flat and go back to living with her parents. "I left for my health, to avoid more conflicts. I couldn't go on like that", she explains.
Fear of going out onto the landing
Other residents describe an atmosphere of permanent tension. "I'm afraid to go out onto the landing", admits one of them, who claims to have gone so far as to avoid going home for fear of running into her. "You can't even walk the dog because she can hit you, shout at you or insult you". He recalls an episode in the early hours: "At three in the morning she came up and rang the bell because she said my dog was barking". Another neighbour adds: "I can barely even vacuum or talk on the phone because she rushes up like a madwoman saying she wants to kill me".
The testimonies agree that the relationship began in a radically different way. "We helped her with food, money and even furniture for the house, she was alone and we empathised with her", recalls a resident. That initial welcome led, according to the neighbours, to an escalation of conflicts which they describe as unbearable. "When we started to see hostile behaviour, we cut off the relationship. That's when she started to make our lives impossible".
Threats involving hired assassins and recordings of minors
The threats described by residents go beyond insults. "'You're a bitch, you're a slut', that's the nicest thing she can say to you", they claim she shouts at them from the landing or from the windows. But the level of intimidation, according to their accounts, escalates even further: "I've paid 300 euros to a hitman to kill you, so you know they're going to come and break your legs", they claim she said to one neighbour.
In addition to verbal abuse, the affected parties report damage to common areas—letterboxes, landings and lifts—threats to poison the dogs in the development and systematic recording of neighbours, including minors, with subsequent distribution on social media for the purpose of ridiculing them. "We live with the need to constantly justify where we are in case she accuses us of something again", they explain.
Calls to the National Police are, according to residents, "daily". They claim that on many occasions officers attend the building following alerts made by Olga María herself and that, upon arrival, she does not even open the door because "she doesn't even know why she's calling, every day she makes up something new".
There is already a judicial conviction and new trials scheduled
The conflict has gone beyond the neighbourhood and reached the courts. On 8 July, a court convicted Olga María of a minor offence of assault and another of threats, following a complaint from a neighbour in the building. New trials are scheduled for 20 and 21 October for similar offences reported by other residents.
In these proceedings, the neighbours describe a "surreal" situation: they are complainants and, at the same time, defendants in those same lawsuits. "We report her with evidence, medical reports and so on, and she, as a defence, files false complaints against us. The last one for alleged assaults. Where's the evidence?", they argue.
A history dating back more than a decade
The story of 'María the Portuguese' does not begin in this building in Vallecas district. For more than ten years, her name has been linked to a succession of complaints and conflicts at different points in the district. The National Police already investigated her modus operandi on suspicion that several of the complaints she had filed might be false, an investigation that ended with her arrest for the reiteration of this type of accusations. Olga María has criminal records for "many and various reasons" and, according to her neighbours, has filed more than a hundred complaints against "everyone she comes across".
In the shops and bars in the area she is also a "familiar face". Some workers recount that several affected parties have grouped together to take legal action against her, whilst other establishments have opted to ban her outright. "She comes here and pretends to faint, deliberately injures herself and then accuses us", claim shopkeepers and residents.
Months without paying rent on the public flat
Added to the neighbourhood problems is the situation of the flat. Residents claim that Olga María has not paid the rent for the public flat she occupies, owned by the EMVS, for "about nine months", and that she also does not pay community charges. The neighbours' association is awaiting an urgent response from the municipal company faced with a situation that, they insist, has become unsustainable.
Source: El Mundo