Angie Velasquez was searched in public, forced to strip, subjected to police harassment, and then imprisoned in Florencio Varela. During the month she was detained, her health deteriorated. She died yesterday. The organization Otrans Argentina, of which Angie was a member, filed a lawsuit today against a judge and three prosecutors for "Aggravated homicide in conjunction with torture by action and omission and in conjunction with illicit association." By Catalina Dowbley, from La Plata. The civil association Otrans filed a complaint against Judge Juan Pablo Masi, prosecutors Álvaro Garganta and Marcelo Seiler, and deputy prosecutor Granados for "Aggravated homicide in conjunction with torture by action and omission and in conjunction with illicit association." The complaint is for the death of Angie Velasquez, a trans activist who had been detained for a month in Unit 32 in Florencio Varela. This is the second such case this year. “We came here to denounce, we came to say enough is enough with the persecution, we came to say enough is enough with the criminalization. Because this State, from the Nation, from the Province, and from the Municipality, is a right-wing State, which, since it took power, has persecuted our comrades through its heavy-handed policies and ended up killing them,” Claudia Vásquez Haro, president of Otrans Argentina, told Presentes . This was during this morning's demonstration in front of the La Plata Courts, after presenting the petition. Otrans denounces that the prison did not provide Velasquez with medical care or the necessary medication for her chronic illness.

[READ ALSO: “Trans people are criminalized, locked up, and ultimately killed” ]

For this reason, on March 2, the organization filed a corrective habeas corpus petition denouncing the worsening of Angie's detention conditions. A week later, when Angie was transferred to Cellblock 11, the magistrate was informed that the place was unsuitable for her health, but he didn't respond. Angie's health was deteriorating, with fevers of 39 degrees Celsius. The last time they saw her alive, she was about to be transferred to the Olmos prison hospital in La Plata. But when her fellow inmates went to visit her, they were informed of her death, showing them her body. They were not told when or how she had died.

Two deaths in two months

Angie Velasquez is the second trans migrant detained in Florencio Varela to die in 2017. Like former Miss Latin America Trans, Pamela Macedo Paduro, Angie was a victim of institutional violence and imprisoned by the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service, where they were denied access to the medications and health care they needed. "There is a persecution that stems from the fact that they are transvestites, poor, and migrants," said Vásquez Haro.

[ALSO READ: Justice demanded for the death of a trans woman detained in Florencio Varela ]

The organization also targeted the doctors at the "Mi Pueblo" Hospital in Florencio Varela, because they believe Velasquez was transferred three times but returned to the unit. "They take them there when they're in terminal condition, give them an IV, and then take them back to the prison. For international organizations, this is torture," added Vásquez Haro.

“They had an obligation to avoid this outcome.”

“All these actors operate in collusion. They can't claim to be unaware of this. They knew this was going to happen; they could have imagined this outcome. They had the obligation to prevent this outcome, they had the power to prevent this outcome, and yet, in two months, we have the deaths of two transvestite colleagues, detained by the same prosecutor, the same judge, under the same conditions, in the same prison,” she told Presents Otrans lawyer Luciana Sánchez also emphasized that they constantly report these situations—last year they filed 36 habeas corpus petitions—without receiving a response from the provincial government.

Armed causes

After subjecting her to all kinds of abuse on the street, the police arrested Angie Velasquez, accusing her of possessing less than two grams of cocaine. They charged her with "drug trafficking." The police used a similar methodology to arrest Macedo Panduro. "The charges they're bringing against them are ridiculous, they're illegal, they're drug charges, based on police arbitrariness," said Sánchez. Furthermore, Angie was held at the 11th Police Station in Ringuelet (La Plata), which is illegal, as legislation and protocols dictate that police stations cannot detain people. Angie's colleagues still don't know the conditions under which she died or where her body was taken.

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