Sick Ex-Soldier, 54, Pleads for Home After Decade Homeless

Miguel Ángel has been homeless for eleven years. Sick and without a place to live, he now calls the benches and trees of Santa Cruz's García Sanabria park his makeshift home. Every night, after walking around the city all day, he goes there with bags containing cardboard, some clothes, and blankets to find shelter.

At 54, this quiet and shy man often stares into the distance with his deep blue eyes. His look silently reflects the sad reality he faces, left to cope alone despite suffering from several serious illnesses like chronic pancreatitis, lumbosciatica, and epilepsy. "I just want a roof over my head. I need help," Miguel Ángel pleads desperately.

Miguel Ángel, who was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, told DIARIO DE AVISOS that he moved to Galicia with his parents when he was six. He grew up and went to school there. "I became a professional soldier and was posted to the paratrooper brigade in Murcia," he explained. "After ten years, I moved to Tenerife and started working in hospitality." He worked in that field for 22 years. Then, he says, "my company wanted to promote me, so I had to have medical tests. These tests found several illnesses, including chronic pancreatitis, and I was declared unfit to work. That was in 2009, and that's when my problems started. With only 600 euros a month from my pension, it's impossible to afford basic things like an apartment with a bathroom and kitchen, or even a room where I can sleep, eat, wash, and get treatment."

He insists, his voice almost trembling, that "what I'm asking for isn't a luxury, but something I desperately need. I'm sick and can't keep living on the street like this," moving between parks and bridges, which have become his only safe places. "I'm alone and have no one to help me," he explains. "My parents have passed away, and even though I have two siblings, they live on the mainland and have their own lives, so they don't want anything to do with me."

Miguel Ángel says that in his eleven years of homelessness, the only roof over his head was at the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria hospital, where he stayed when his illness got worse. After leaving the hospital, he contacted the Social Services department of the Santa Cruz City Council. They sent him to the Municipal Welcome Center (CMA), a shelter where he lived for five years.

"I was grateful for the help, but honestly, I had a very difficult time at the shelter," he explains. "People who used drugs or drank alcohol stayed there, and there were constant fights and threats. That's why I left and started sleeping under the Viera y Clavijo bridge. But then they removed the benches I used to sleep on, so I moved to the Zurita bridge. I couldn't sleep on the ground there either, which is how I ended up in García Sanabria park, where I've been for almost a year and a half now."

He simply wants his dignity as a human being, especially as a sick person, to be "respected." He hopes to improve his current life, which he calls "quite unpleasant." "What I want is a room, or for Social Security to increase my pension so I can afford a place to live." He adds that the city's Social Services offered him home care for his hygiene and nutrition. But, he points out, "if I don't have a roof over my head, it's not much help. They can't assist me on the street, and I can't keep going like this, walking miles with my few things, while my illnesses get worse and worse."

The city council, for its part, confirms that Miguel Ángel did have a place at the CMA and a support plan. Because of this, he was given home care assistance as an exception, just like other homeless people who use city services. However, this help stopped when he chose to leave the shelter.