Around 1,500 people marched yesterday afternoon in the provincial capital to demand justice for Ayelén Gómez, the trans woman murdered last week, whose body was found at the Lawn Tennis Club. “I am suffering her absence and I am grateful to everyone who joined this march,” Liliana, her mother, who is a plaintiff in the case, told Presentes. By Gabriela Cruz, from Tucumán. Photos: Ignacio López. The open-door trans education center (CETRANS) was the meeting point. The scheduled time for the gathering was 5:00 p.m. By 5:30 p.m., hundreds of people had already gathered, holding flags and signs with the face of Ayelén Gómez, the 31-year-old trans woman murdered on Saturday. Bright colors accompanied the call for justice for the transphobic murder. “We feel supported and stronger than ever,” said Mahia Moyano, a student at CENTRANS, who, along with her classmates, organized the march in Tucumán. “We exceeded expectations in terms of turnout, and even more so with the support of our trans sisters, as we marched together to demand justice for Ayelén,” Mahia emphasized at the end of the massive march.

[READ ALSO: Transvesticide in Tucumán: Ayelén Gómez was found at the Lawn Tennis Club]

Ayelén's family, along with students and teachers from CETRANS, participated in organizing the march. More than twenty social organizations and political parties joined the trans women, who, in addition to the main slogan "Justice for Ayelén," also demanded terms such as "Stop transfemicides," "Stop transvesticides," "Stop trans trafficking," "Full compliance with the gender identity law," and "Trans employment quota." Regarding this last point, immediately after the march, the CETRANS educational community was invited to the Provincial Legislature for the presentation of two draft laws on trans employment quotas; an invitation that will be extended to the LGBTI community. At the end of the march, participants circled the plaza. Around 1,500 people listened to the document drafted and agreed upon by the students in front of the Government House. The document denounces the State for “continuing to render us invisible and stigmatize us from various spheres, primarily the police, the mass media, and the health system. We need to live in peace, to work, to have access to education and health care, to live free from discrimination and violence, and to walk the streets as the people we are,” the document states.

“My daughter left home on Thursday and said: I’m coming back on Saturday to vote.”

“She was everything to me, she was my life. Now she’s gone, a part of my heart has been taken from me.” On the sidewalk outside the Government House, Liliana, Ayelén’s mother, spoke with Presents She remembered her daughter with a mixture of pain and gratitude to all those supporting the call for justice. “I am suffering her absence and I am grateful to everyone who joined this march,” said the woman, who was accompanied by other family members. “I hope justice will be served because my daughter left home on Thursday, happy and well-dressed, and told me: ‘I’m coming back on Saturday to vote.’ And I waited and waited for her until I received the news that devastated me.” Liliana, Ayelén's mother, speaking to the media  In 2012 Ayelén She reported to the Justice system that a police officer raped her and another had forced her to perform oral sex on him. For these reasons, she had to leave Tucumán and went first to Mar del Plata and then to Buenos Aires, where, between 2014 and 2015, she attended the Mocha Celis Trans Popular High School. She returned to the province of Tucumán last year with the intention of continuing her studies at CETRANS. “She came back to my house in October, just in time for Mother’s Day. She was crying desperately. It was the most beautiful gift I ever received,” Liliana told this publication, adding that “she wanted to study and work.”

[READ ALSO: Transvesticide in Tucumán: according to the autopsy, Ayelén died of asphyxiation]

Liliana's plea is for justice, and above all, to know what and who took her daughter from her. "I want the culprits to be found because I don't know anything about what happened." "Ayelén was pure joy and smiles. When I met her, I thought she was the most beautiful of all," said Mahia Moyano, who met her in Tucumán and later saw her again in Buenos Aires. "She came from Buenos Aires to have a different life, and they took it from her," added Mahia, who is also a student at CETRANS. For her and her classmates, the march was an opportunity to unite and bring visibility to the violence that this community experiences throughout their lives.

Represented by a human rights lawyer

Liliana and Mahia were at the Prosecutor's Office yesterday morning, where Adriana Reinoso Cuello is acting as substitute prosecutor, to inquire about the progress of the investigation. They were accompanied by lawyer Pablo Gargiulo, representative of the organization ANDHES (Lawyers for Human Rights and Social Studies). Gargiulo stated that, given Liliana's interest in becoming a private prosecutor, he will be representing her in the case concerning her daughter's murder. Following the initial hearing with Reinoso Cuello, the lawyer emphasized that the prosecutor was very receptive and deeply concerned about the progress of the investigation. While, Gargiulo maintained, “the prosecutor is not ruling out any hypothesis, none is considered more plausible than the others.” He also noted that the standard procedures for an investigation of this nature are being followed and that he expects to have access to the case file in the coming days, as it was still in the hands of the Homicide Division as of Thursday. “The head of the Human Rights and Justice Office of the Superior Court of Tucumán, Lourdes Bascary, was also present at the meeting with Prosecutor Reinoso Cuello,” Gargiulo stated.

Go into battle

“My decision. My seal. Don’t mock me, don’t touch me, don’t harm me, don’t deny me, don’t hurt me. My existence is free. Don’t end me,” say the first eight lines of the poem written by Luz Barraza. “I, a princess, prey to a dragon who uses, abuses, and attacks me. I refuse to wait for my social prince and I go into battle,” concludes the fifth stanza of the trans woman’s writing. This poem was printed and distributed during the march demanding justice for Ayelén. “This is my contribution,” said Luz when the mobilization was being organized in Tucumán. Her contribution, like that of the entire CETRANS educational community, was much more than that. It was making the decision to take to the streets and uphold the banner that, demanding justice for Ayelén, calls for the right of trans women and transvestites to live freely.