«Femicide is an act of fear, of hate, of incompetence, omission, of cowardice and abuse. Not one more.»
Agnes Torres, a transsexual psychologist and gay rights activist, left her home in the central Mexican state of Puebla on her way to a party. The next day, her body was found in a gully, naked from the waist down. Her throat had been slit.
«Agnes’s case had major repercussions because she was an activist involved deeply in the struggle for our rights. But there are many other cases that no one has ever heard about,»
Torres was 28 years old and in the process of changing her identity in Mexico City, the only part of Mexico that has passed progressive laws such as the decriminalisation of abortion, same-sex marriage and a gender identity law http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51861 allowing transgender people to change their gender and sex, under the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which governs the capital.
Big demo against homophobia and femicide
…….The protesters, who according to news reports numbered between two hundred and one thousand, filled the central square with pictures of 
Torres, art, candles, and signs that read “La homosexualidad no es una enfermedad, la homofobia sí,” (Homosexuality is not a disease, homophobia is.) Members of the crowd also taped signs to the walls of the buildings that border the central square: “Exigimos justicia,” (We demand justice) “¿Cuántas más?” (How many more?) “No somos todas; faltan nuestras muertas,” (This isn’t all of us; our dead are missing.)
The crowd chanted “va caer, va caer, la homofobía va caer.” (It will fall, it will fall, homophobia will fall.) Instead of a minute of silence, the demonstrators had a minute of applause to remember and celebrate Torres’ life. After filling the square for two hours, the group marched to the state government offices in downtown Puebla.
Word of Torres’ death spread quickly through social media, allowing the protest to be organized within about 24 hours. On Monday night Twitter users were writing about plans for protests and memorials in other Mexican cities such as Xalapa and Guadalajara.
“People should know about her. #AgnesTorres she was a daughter, she was a friend, she was a professional, she was human being. She is no longer with us. She was murdered”
-@mtorch on Twitter
Messages were directed at politicians such as state governor Rafael Moreno Valle asking him to take action to prevent hate crimes in the state. Tweets expressed a range of emotions from grief to anger and indignation.
Angry comments on Twitter also centered around a user who tweeted that Torres had deserved to die. The account purported to belong to Juan Pablo Castro, a young man who had earlier in the week been forced to apologize for using a derogatory slang word for homosexuals at a political event for young people in the congress building in Mexico City. However the account tweeting about Agnes Torres contained a slight variation in spelling from the real Juan Pablo Castro’s account name (substituting a capital i for an l) leading many to believe that it was a case of stolen identity. The fake Castro account continued to tweet negative comments about Torres throughout the evening. Perhaps in response to the backlash against “Castro,” other politicians took to Twitter on Monday evening to condemn Torres’ murder.
Image
«Femicide is an act of fear, of hate, of incompetence, omission, of cowardice and abuse. Not one more.» Photo via @feminicidios on Twitter.
People attending the protest also tweeted that the body of César González Martínez, a gay man, had just been found in Momoxpan, Puebla, at 2 PM that afternoon. Some news outlets reported that including Agnes Torres, there had been three murders attributed to homophobia in Puebla so far in 2012; activist groups, some represented by Ibrahim Zamora and the organization “De Ser” (To Be), claimed that there have been six homicides of members of the gay community in Puebla so far this year.
According to the autopsy performed by the coroner, the cause of Torres’ death was hypovolemic shock caused by beheading with a sharp weapon. The autopsy was performed as part of the preliminary investigation into case number AP/406/2012/Atlixco. News reports also stated that part of the body had been burned.
In addition to working as an activist, Torres was a psychologist specializing in gender identity. She was 28 years old.
Reads more HERE with thanks http://awayfare.wordpress.com/
Related articles
- Mexican Trans Activist Agnes Torres Brutally Murdered: VIDEO (towleroad.com)
- laws against femicide; the killing of women because of gender (pikapvs.wordpress.com)
- Mexico Has a Human Rights Commission? (seriouslyrebecca.wordpress.com)
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