Nicolás Dujovne, Argentina's new Minister of Finance, deleted a discriminatory tweet from his account yesterday regarding LGBTQ+ activist Diana Sacayán. Various organizations and leaders of the LGBTQ+ community are demanding that he "retract his discriminatory statements and apologize to the entire community." [News updated today at 3 PM] (#BUENOSAIRES) — The Commission of Family Members and Comrades for Justice for Diana Sacayán - Stop Transvesticide and LGBTQ+ activists condemned the tweet in which Argentina's newly appointed Minister of Finance, Nicolás Dujovne, mocked Diana Sacayán's appearance on Public Television. "There's a trans woman on 678 named Sacayán. I can't think of the joke, but it's funny. Let's not let them hijack our easy jokes," the minister, @nicodujo, wrote on his Twitter account. The tweet was deleted yesterday. The Commission demanded in a statement that he retract his discriminatory statements and apologize to the entire community, since the endorsement of these expressions by political power fosters hatred, violence, and hate crimes against LGBTI people, and especially against transvestite and trans people. Nicolás Dujovne assumed his position as minister in Mauricio Macri's government on Monday, January 2nd, at 10:00 AM. The tweet surfaced the day after he took office. It had been published on July 3, 2012, during an episode of the program 678, where Diana Sacayán—leader of the Anti-Discrimination Liberation Movement (MAL) and alternate trans secretary of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)—was celebrating the approval and enactment of the National Gender Identity Law and the issuance of the first national identity cards under that law. “Although this statement is from four years ago, we express our strongest condemnation of these remarks because they represent an affront to Diana's memory and symbolize the thinking of Mauricio Macri's government regarding human rights and anti-discrimination policies,” stated the Commission that is demanding justice for the leader murdered in October 2015 in Buenos Aires, a crime that remains unsolved. The press office of Minister Dujovne told Presentes that they were unaware of the uproar on social media and would not be issuing any statements. Presentes contacted the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI) to learn its position on the official's words. “What we did was, starting with the minister's tweet from 2012, see if any complaint had been filed at that time that could be reopened. We searched INADI's files for any complaints, whether from the previous administration, the victim, or her family or friends. We found none.” Four years passed, and then, unfortunately, the statute of limitations expired. The previous administration took no action. "INADI cannot act on its own initiative," stated sources from the same institution where Diana was a leading figure and member of the Sexual Diversity department. In October 2016, on the first anniversary of the transphobic murder, a commemorative plaque was placed there. And INADI renamed its library after Amancay Diana Sacayán as a way to "promote collective reflection on such a tragic event." "These are the messages that incite hatred," Otrans Argentina and the LGBTI Organizations Front of La Plata, Berisso, and Ensenada expressed concern about the tweet. “The message, besides failing to recognize self-perceived gender identity, which it achieves by using a pejorative term like ‘trava’ (a derogatory term for a trans woman), serves to reinforce discrimination against a group whose rights have historically been violated,” Claudia Vasquez Haro, president of Otrans and Director of Sexual Diversity at the Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication of the National University of La Plata, told Presentes. “It is a profoundly transphobic discourse, but it also alludes to and mocks Diana’s surname, which is of Indigenous descent, combining racism and xenophobia. Ultimately, it demonstrates a type of reductionist, conservative, and authoritarian thinking. These are the kinds of messages that incite hatred,” Vasquez Haro said. She added: “We deeply condemn these statements. But we are also concerned that these people are in key decision-making positions, where a country’s policies are ultimately defined. It is worrying that they hold this view of Diana Sacayán, a very important figure in Argentina and internationally.” “We know that the minister’s way of thinking will translate into a lack of policies for our community. People with that mindset are undoing the progress we’ve made in human rights,” said the president of Otrans. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onL4F4sNxOY[/embed] “Dujovne is the perfect embodiment of the moment our country is experiencing: the return of the most unscrupulous officials to implement brutal economic austerity policies for our people and the seizure of power by a sexist, misogynistic, and transphobic elite,” stated the press release from the Commission of Relatives and Comrades for Justice for Diana Sacayán . “We not only strongly condemn the statements of Nicolás Dujovne, who embodies the most perverse face of the neoliberal economic austerity measures of Mauricio Macri’s government, but we also see a very clear opportunity to analyze two opposing models in the area of ​​human rights,” said Darío Arias, a leader of Conurbanos por la Diversidad (Suburbs for Diversity). “If we analyze the context, while Diana was speaking on that program about the progress made regarding gender identity, this person, who four years later became a minister in a right-wing administration, was using his Twitter account to disparage and discriminate against one of the most recognized trans activists in the world.” Arias added: “This statement returns us to a point of invisibility and demonization of the community. Although it was a statement from 2012, it represents what many officials in the current government think of the trans community.” Finally, Arias stated that Dujovne will go down in history as someone who starved the Argentine people, and Diana as someone who restored the dignity of thousands of her comrades through her struggle.”

"Ignorance and contempt towards trans people"

For his part, Martín Canevaro, Secretary General of the organization 100% Diversity and Rights, stated that “the new minister’s statements are unacceptable because they are violent. They express ignorance and contempt for trans people who are in a situation of extreme social vulnerability, because they lack access to education, housing, and employment, and are condemned to prostitution to survive. Instead of making cuts, he could, in his new role, correct his statements by implementing policies to include them.” He added: “Among the measures he could take as minister is to include incentives for companies to hire trans people.” Canevaro maintained that “it is not enough to say #NiUnaMenos (Not One Less) and then promote violent rhetoric. Today we are demanding justice for the transphobic murder of Diana Sacayán so that it does not go unpunished like so many others.”

How the Sacayán case is progressing in 2017

The judicial investigation into the transphobic murder was jeopardized last year when the National Criminal Court of Instruction No. 33 decided to close the investigation, putting the crime at risk of going unpunished. The plaintiffs sent a report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to express their concern. On December 27, after a key audience, and various actions by the Argentine transvestite-trans activists to demand that the murder of the activist continue to be investigated, the Chamber 4 of the National Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs' request and the prosecution to continue investigating.He requested the reversal of the decision by National Criminal Court Judge Gustavo Pierretti, who had closed the investigation in November and sent the case to trial. The court ruling orders that only the main defendant will go to trial and that supplementary measures be carried out to confirm or rule out the participation of the second defendant in the case and to continue the pending lines of investigation. More on the transvesticide of Diana Sacayán. Follow Presentes: Twitter @PresentesTLGBI Instagram: PresentesTLGBI Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/presentesTLGBI/ ]]>