Briggite Viola Rodríguez was attacked on June 10th, beaten and insulted because of her gender identity and because she is Peruvian. She went to the Chilean justice system and reported the transphobic and racist attack. A security camera in an elevator recorded the aggressor, a man she had met at a nightclub. By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile. “He hit me so hard in the face, look how much I bled,” says Briggite Viola Rodríguez. She points to the stain that remains on the yellowed wall at the entrance of the building where she was beaten and insulted. She still has bruises on her body from the attack she suffered on Sunday, June 11th, in Santiago, Chile. Briggite is trans, 26 years old, and left her native country of Peru nine years ago and lives here. That same Sunday, she reported the attack to the 46th Police Station of the Carabineros (Chilean National Police). Yesterday, she went to the local prosecutor's office in La Florida, southeast of the Chilean capital, to submit a medical report she had done on her own after the attack. She was accompanied by one of her best friends and this reporter from Presentes. The case file, now bearing her first name, number 1700542974-9, is at that prosecutor's office. The file, which she was finally able to review on Thursday, June 15, contains no information about the attacker, as he managed to escape. The brief description in the police report states: “Minor injuries. Psychologically affected.” The report that Briggite attached, which was prepared at the Santa María Clinic, gives a different diagnosis: “Less serious injuries (which on a scale of 1 to 3 would be a 2) with inflammatory changes in the soft tissues of the right cheekbone.” Briggite's lips are still swollen, but her smile remains. A dark shadow peeks out from her right eyelid, which makeup can't quite conceal. "Inflammatory changes," she repeats. She reads it aloud to the official on duty, as if to make sure it's written correctly on the form. The official, after typing, making copies, keeping some and giving her others, explains that the case is temporarily in a provisional file. That she'll probably have a prosecutor assigned "by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week." Then they'll call her in for another statement. That's how the process will continue.

 "Who do you think you are, you faggot, you fucking transvestite?"

Brigitte worked until last year in the nursing department of the Félix Bulnes Clinical Hospital in Santiago. Three months ago, she underwent complex facial feminization surgery. It was a personal project she had dreamed of for four years, since beginning her transition. She says it's taking her a long time to recover. On Saturday, June 10, for the first time since the operation, she felt ready to go dancing. A cousin and a friend accompanied her. Around 3:00 a.m., her cousin left. An hour later, she and her friend left the club. With them was a man they met there, who said his name was Claudio.

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Back at her friend's house, as the sun was still rising, Brigitte gathered her things to leave. Claudio followed her out. They took a taxi to her apartment, but couldn't get in because she didn't have her keys. When they went upstairs, they were... recorded by the security camera of the ascentr.   “That’s when he got violent for the first time. He kicked the door because he wanted to open it. I told him to calm down, I calmed him down. Or so I thought. Maybe that was one of my mistakes, because seeing that reaction, I should have told him to leave. Or left myself, but I didn’t,” she says. They took another taxi to go to another friend’s house. While they were waiting to go in, a woman arrived, and Briggite asked her not to close the gate. “What do you think you are, you faggot, you fucking transvestite? You’re not coming in here,” the woman yelled at him when she was already inside. “And why are you with this faggot when there are real women, like me?” she reproached Claudio. At that moment, he didn’t say or do anything. “Hey, cut it out, let’s leave it at that,” Briggite pleaded. “And besides, you’re Black. You fucking Peruvian faggot!” Brigitte admits that the woman's racist and xenophobic tone threw her off. “I don't care if they call me a faggot anymore. But when I heard that 'fucking Peruvian' comment, I got angry and answered her very badly, I admit it. I told her she was ugly, like all Chilean women, but I only said this to defend myself, not because I actually believe it. Then she came upstairs and I was furious.”

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She hadn't finished answering him when she felt a tug on her hair. In seconds, a shove slammed her face against the fence. Then, she says, came several punches and kicks. “It's like that woman's insults provoked him to do this to me. The guy completely changed. That beast wasn't the one who left the club with me. I covered my face with my arms, but I couldn't avoid the first blows. I could have hit him back, because I've learned to defend myself on this tough road we all travel. It's not the first time. But I just froze. I was only begging him to stop hitting me,” she says. A neighbor who was coming out intervened. He dragged her across the ground, where she was lying amidst the struggle, and managed to get her inside the fence. Claudio ran away. What is known about him so far: he is 1.70 meters tall, has a heavy build, and is around 30 years old. Around 8 a.m., after being alerted by someone in the area, a police patrol arrived. According to the police report, the neighbor who saved her is willing to serve as a witness and contribute to the investigation. Briggite hopes that the woman who verbally assaulted her will also be called in for questioning. The police took Briggite for the routine medical examination. They insisted she go alone, but she refused: “In the end, they let my friend come with me, but it was because I insisted. I have no complaints about them.” However, she does complain about Posta 4 in Ñuñoa, the hospital where she was taken: “My nose was still bleeding, my lips were swollen. My whole face hurt, and the nurse still wrote 'minor injuries' on the report. I wasn't satisfied and sought a second opinion. I was scared and worried.” The facial feminization surgery (which included mentoplasty, rhinoplasty, jaw shaving, and forehead implants) was performed in Peru. On medical advice, she had to be extremely careful throughout the entire process for a year to fully recover. “That’s why I immediately went to get a scan and other tests.”

Another previous attack, right in the center of Santiago

She was accompanied on that tour of clinics by Niki Raveau, director of the Transitar Foundation, who works with transgender children and youthLast year, they experienced a similar incident together while walking through downtown Santiago. That time, Niki was the one most affected. The case made headlines in the local press because she was a candidate for city council at the time, the first trans woman to run. Almost nothing was said about Briggite. “What lies ahead is a long and slow road. We're in limbo here, but if she wants to pursue this legal process to the end, she'll have my full support. And she'll also be a great example for the trans community,” Niki tells Presentes. She speaks from personal experience rather than as an activist and expert on these issues.

More reports of violence

According to the latest report from Homosexual Liberation Movement (Movilh)2016 was the “year of multisectoral transformations in favor of equality and non-discrimination.” It was also the year in which reports of violence against the Chilean LGBTI community increased by 28.6%.

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Niki maintains that although physical violence is prevalent and widespread in Chile, the climate of discrimination, the disapproving looks, the rude gestures, the "contempt" from those who work within the justice system are also constant in these cases. "They waste a lot of your time, they demoralize you, you experience enormous stress, so many things happen. And Briggite will have to face all of that, but we'll be there for her," she assures. Briggite wants justice to find her attacker. That's why she reported him. But she also wants to leave; she doesn't know where. Her friends and her mother keep telling her it will be a slow process, but she's confident that everything will move more quickly. She believes that the video, currently the only clue about the man who assaulted her, can help find him quickly and bring about some justice.