On October 13, the heart of Veronica del Carmen Serrano broke. He was only 28 years old. Veronica's heart got tired. I worked taking care of an older, in-house person. He did not have time to rest, nor the right to go to the doctor, since in the Basque Country he lived without papers. It was from Nicaragua, from Somoto.

It was a disgrace. It's not fate's fault. It was not a matter of luck, but of injustice. Associations such as Munduko Emakumeak, Sorgin and Anitzak and Women with Voice have denounced some of the painful characteristics of this death. On the one hand, their working conditions: they worked without social security and, as often happens among the employees and caregivers of the internal household, the elderly did not seem to respect their breaks. Associations are of the opinion that this young man's heart problems could be related to tiredness or overtime, and in addition, if he had received medical care, he might have been diagnosed with this problem in time. But working without social security is another problem: that his death is not considered an occupational accident.

The Aliens Act is also clearly related. In other words, Veronica left Nicaragua (the second poorest State in America, according to international organizations; the first is Haiti) to improve the living conditions of his family. He left a 9-year-old daughter in Somoto. She also had to worry about her mother, whose health was precarious. As for the Aliens Act, its only option was to work in the informal economy; for immigrant women, care and housework are the only job opportunities, and it is very common to work in exploitative conditions.

Even if you have a contract (only a third of the household employees of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country), even if you get 40 hours a week, the person you care for at any time will have some need and you will have to take care of yourself. But if you're paperless, it's harder to defend your rights, filing a complaint involves the risk of being expelled. Let us also remember that the Spanish Government has denied health care to immigrants without papers.

The truth is that Veronica's death could go unnoticed, but it wasn't. The two friends of this young man went to the association Women with Voice of Getxo. A sum of EUR 5,000 was needed for the repatriation of the body. They did everything: cooking and selling food, organizing charity, spreading information at the subway entrance... This amount was obtained by the associations of immigrants and women Women with Voice and many other associations of immigrants and women who gave their voice in this case.

“Veronica: Your death is our struggle.” The red carthules cut in the shape of a heart were in charge of writing this kind of chorus in the tribute organised by associations and friends on 31 October in Bilbao. Another was also held at Getxo. They denounced the precariousness of caregivers and the rights violations implied by the Aliens Act. What is more, they left the microphone open so that anyone who wanted to be able to say a couple of words. It was really exciting and I think it is absolutely necessary that these things be done; that collective duels be made of victims of machismo, of racism or of savage capitalism. We should remember the names and faces of people who died from direct violence or wrongful accidents, and feel that we care, feel that we have to fight every death.