Murders of Three Trans People in Two Weeks Spark Protests in Mexico Beatrice Fanucci - GCN
go to original January 16, 2024

Adolfo Voorduin, left, and Nancy Martinez embrace during a rally by members of the LGBTQ+ community to protest the murder of transgender activist Samantha Gomes Fonseca in Mexico City, Monday. Gomes was shot in Mexico City Sunday. (Marco Ugarte/AP)

Update: Transfeminicide Violence in Mexico: At Least Five Trans Women Killed in First Two Weeks of 2024 (Los Angeles Blade)

Authorities in Mexico disclosed that at least three trans people were murdered in the first two weeks of 2024, spurring LGBTQ+ and human rights to protest against the escalation of violence. Two additional similar cases are also being investigated.

Last week, Mexican trans activist Miriam Nohemí Ríos was shot dead while working in her business in the central Mexican state of Michoacán. Then, on Saturday, January 13, the body of a trans person was similarly found with gunshot wounds in the central state of Jalisco.

On Sunday, January 14, authorities confirmed that trans activist and politician Samantha Gómez Fonseca had also been shot multiple times and found inside a car in Mexico City.

Further murders of two other trans people have not yet been confirmed by authorities but were registered by human rights groups in Mexico. These involved a trans woman known as “Ivonne”, who was found dead with her partner in the southern state of Veracruz according to the National Observatory of Hate Crimes Against LGBTI people; and transgender stylist Gaby Ortíz, who was killed in the Hidalgo state, as reported by association Letra S.

The murders sparked protests among the trans and wider LGBTQ+ community in Mexico, who took to the streets in Mexico City on Monday, January 15. Over 100 people marched on the main throughway, chanting: “Samantha listen, we’re fighting for you.”

As previously mentioned, activist Samantha Gómez Fonseca was one of the victims, and she had originally planned to take part in the march to demand greater acceptance of trans people in Mexico. After her death, the march turned into a protest and a call for justice.

Earlier in the same day, another group of activists spray painted the words “trans lives matter” on a wall of the National Palace of Mexico to protest the rising number of murders. According to Letra S, 513 LGBTQ+ people were violently killed over the past six years in Mexico.

Read the rest at Gay Community News

Related: Wave of Transgender Slayings in Mexico Spurs Anger and Protests by LGBTQ+ Community (Associated Press)

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