Franchesca lost an eye after being shot, and the man, a client, fled. The 31-year-old woman was in intensive care until today, and the Formosa Women's Secretariat intervened in the attack. Photos: Courtesy of Formosa Diversa. On Monday the 21st, at 10:30 p.m., Franchesca was in the red-light district of the Itatí II neighborhood in Formosa when a man approached her on a motorcycle and suggested they go to a hotel. Before arriving, they stopped in a dark area where, while soliciting sex, he shot her in the eye. The 31-year-old trans woman was conscious and was able to describe the attacker as a "robust, not very tall" man. Her friends called emergency services and the police, and Franchesca was admitted to the High Complexity Hospital. The attack occurred just three days after the Miss Trans Formosa pageant, an event Franchesca had attended. “She’s doing better now, with her mother, who traveled from Clorinda, where Franchesca is from, and she may be moved to a regular ward today. She’s out of danger, but she lost an eye. She’ll receive psychological support afterward because she’s still in shock; her life was attacked,” Joaquín Ferreyra, a member of the LGBTI association Proyecto Formosa Diversa, Presentes Franchesca’s friends and colleagues filed a report at the Colluccio neighborhood police station, and the Formosa Women’s Secretariat intervened. The case was classified as “attempted homicide.” The proceedings were referred to Court No. 5 of Formosa. According to the report, Franchesca was offering sexual services in an area near Avenida Italia and Circunvalación. She had been working in that area, close to the Toyota dealership, for three months. It was cold, and she was alone when a man approached her on a Honda motorcycle. He offered to take her to a hotel, and they headed that way along Avenida Italia. But before arriving, he stopped the motorcycle in a dark area, asked her to perform oral sex, pointed a gun at her left eye, and fired. According to police sources consulted by Presentes , a .22 caliber shell casing was recovered at the scene. For now, the investigation has two hypotheses but no arrests. "On the one hand, there's the client hypothesis. And on the other, there's a territorial dispute in the area," the police reported.

Ongoing violence

Yesterday at 5:30 p.m., a demonstration was held in Plaza San Martín to demand justice and the implementation of a trans employment quota in the province. “Without a trans quota, there are no jobs, and without access to work, trans women are at constant risk when they engage in sex work,” said Ferreyra. She added, “Every day they suffer verbal or physical abuse, but it often goes unreported.” In April of last year, Erika Rojas, a young trans woman, was found murdered, her body in a state of decomposition, after having been missing for several weeks. Her family had expressed dissatisfaction with the police search. ]]>