Andrea González was murdered in December 2016 in Ciudad del Este. She was 20 years old and had a hearing impairment. This is the first transphobic murder in Paraguay where the Prosecutor's Office has filed charges, but there are reports that a witness has been threatened and the main suspect is under house arrest. A march was held to demand that the crime not go unpunished. “They kill us and no one goes to jail.” By María Sanz, from Asunción. Photos: Jessie Insfrán Pérez. On December 6, Andrea González was on Avenida San Blas, near kilometer 7 in Ciudad del Este, on the border with Brazil, when she was murdered. For her murder, the first of a trans woman to reach the indictment stage in the Paraguayan justice system, one person has been arrested. But he was granted house arrest. Organizations report that a witness has been threatened. And yesterday they marched through the streets of Asunción to demand that the crime not go unpunished. Andrea was a 20-year-old trans woman who lived with her family in a humble neighborhood of Ciudad del Este. She had a disability that prevented her from hearing and speaking. She survived by working as a sex worker on San Blas Avenue, alongside other trans women who, like her, are excluded from the labor market. That night, other women were also nearby, and thanks to their testimony, the crime scene was reconstructed. That December night, around 10:30 p.m., a man in a white car approached her. He rolled down his window and, without saying a word, began shooting. She was hit by eight bullets and died instantly. Thanks to the testimony of one of Andrea's colleagues, who was present at the time of the attack, prosecutor Alfredo Ramos Manzur filed charges. Days after the murder, Narciso Melgarejo, a client, was arrested as the alleged perpetrator. The prosecutor charged him with intentional homicide and requested that he be held in pretrial detention. But the judge in charge of the case, Cinthia Garcete Urunaga, of the Criminal Court of Guarantees number 5 of Ciudad del Este, granted Melgarejo a house arrest measure

Why do they object to house arrest?

“In Paraguay, there is a law that prohibits alternatives to imprisonment in homicide cases. If you are accused of homicide, you must be in prison,” Juan Martens, executive director of the Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences of Paraguay (Inecip), explained to Presentes. This organization, along with Panambí, is monitoring the case of Andrea's murder. Based on this law (which was introduced into the Criminal Procedure Code in 2011), the Prosecutor's Office appealed Melgarejo's request for house arrest to the Court of Appeals. The Court overturned the measure and ordered that the accused must remain in pretrial detention. But Judge Garcete continues to disobey this order. Prosecutor Pérez Mansur told Presentes today that this week, the court issued an arrest warrant for Melgarejo so that he can be imprisoned. He added that the suspect has several pieces of evidence against him: the weapon with which he allegedly shot Andrea, which was found at his home during a raid by the Prosecutor's Office, and the testimony of a colleague of the victim who witnessed the murder.      

The main witness, under threat: "She is afraid and is in hiding"

  Martens explained that the main argument for ordering pretrial detention for a suspect is to prevent them from obstructing the investigation. She detailed that Melgarejo is currently under house arrest and also stated that he “has threatened to kill the main witness in the case.” Inecip and Panambí believe that if Melgarejo is not imprisoned, this witness's life is in danger. “Andrea's alleged murderer is threatening the only eyewitness. If he were to kill her, there would be no witnesses to prove his guilt, and Andrea's murder would go unpunished. We truly fear for the witness's life,” Martens declared. This witness also has a hearing impairment, so during the investigation, she gave her statement with the help of interpreters. For her part, Yren Rotela, a representative of Panambí, assured Presents The witness “is afraid and in hiding” after receiving threats, and lacks the necessary guarantees for her safety. The prosecutor in the case, Alfredo Ramos Manzur, told this agency today that the main witness in the case was arrested for an alleged theft at a store in Ciudad del Este last Monday night. The witness was identified as the alleged perpetrator of the theft, along with two other transgender individuals, through security camera footage from the establishment. as published by the newspaper Última Hora. The lawyer representing the Paraguayan Human Rights Coordinator (Codehupy) in the case, Pablo Contreras, told Presentes today that he was unaware the witness had been arrested for theft. He stated that her testimony is “fundamental” to clarifying Andrea's murder, and that her involvement in another case “doesn't change anything” about her role as the key witness in her colleague's murder. According to Contreras, her statement is “conclusive evidence” against Melgarejo, which could lead to a conviction.

A landmark transvesticide in Paraguay

The murder of Andrea González is the first case of a transgender person being killed in Paraguay to reach the indictment stage. Never before has the Prosecutor's Office formally charged and sought a sentence against a suspect in the murder of a transgender person. For this reason, Rotela believes it is a landmark case in the trans community's fight against impunity. "We could see the first person convicted of a transgender femicide, and then justice will be served for us. What we are demanding is that the law be applied, and if that means going to jail, then the accused should go and pay for their crime there," the activist stated. "Sit-in and protest: they kill us and nobody goes to jail" Activists from Panambí held a protest yesterday, Tuesday, August 29, in front of the Palace of Justice in Asunción, to demand justice and condemn the actions of Judge Garcete. Chanting “Not one more, we want to live,” the activists placed transgender flags at the foot of the Palace of Justice steps, alongside a black cardboard coffin, in remembrance of the 57 murders of transgender people recorded since the end of the dictatorship in 1989. They also held a banner with a slogan summarizing their demands: “They kill us and no one goes to jail.” The activists also requested a meeting with Luis María Benítez Riera, president of the Council of the Superintendence of the Supreme Court of Justice. This body is responsible for evaluating the performance of judges. Panambí wants to meet with him to denounce what they consider to be Judge Garcete's “negligence.” According to Martens, granting alternatives to imprisonment in cases where it is not appropriate is an "express cause for the dismissal" of the judge. The next step will be to report Garcete to the Jury for the Trial of Magistrates, the body responsible for judging judges accused of crimes or misconduct. The 57th murder and the impunity Rotela recalled that Andrea's murder occurred just one day after the Paraguayan Parliament gave its final approval to the Comprehensive Protection Law against Violence against Women. This law defined femicide as the murder of a woman because she is a woman. However, during the parliamentary debate, the bishops of the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference (CEP) opposed the law's protection of "men who consider themselves women," referring to transgender people. This stance resonated with conservative legislators, who ultimately removed the word "gender" from the entire legislative text. As a result, the law was rendered ineffective for transgender people.

[READ MORE: Trans women left out of a comprehensive protection law]

“There are cases of trans femicide, and we need guarantees that the State will be held accountable. Anyone can kill us, and we have no legal protection.”“,” Rotela stated. Panambí believes that the murder of Andrea González is a hate crime based on her gender identity.The organization demands an end to impunity in these types of cases. According to the report “Forgotten Even in Death,” between 1989 and 2013 there were 54 murders of trans people in Paraguay. Since then, Panambí has ​​registered three more, including Andrea's. To date, there are a total of 57 murders of trans people, all of them unsolved. The trans community in Paraguay hopes that Andrea's murder will be the first to break the tradition of impunity that governs crimes against trans people.