News updated on 2/21 at 2 PM. On Saturday, February 17, in the early morning, Milagros “Mili” Duarte (37 years old), a trans woman, a Social Work student at the Arturo Jauretche National University (UNAJ), and a sex worker in Florencio Varela, was brutally beaten. The aggressor was a client who refused to pay for her services. They were at her home in the San Jorge neighborhood. Identified as Lucas R, the attacker has already been charged by the courts. That night he beat her so badly she was disfigured: he broke her nose and then tried to strangle her. She was saved by a nephew who arrived at the house at that moment. He pushed the aggressor and managed to make him let go of her. This is how she recounted her experience in the complaint she filed at the Women's Police Station that same Saturday, alongside Marcelo Márquez, president of Varela Diversa, after being discharged from the First Aid Unit (UPA) in Florencio Varela. “I'm a little better, but still in a lot of pain. I filed the complaint so that what happened to me doesn't go unpunished; we need justice for all of us. We aren't given decent work, the trans job quota isn't being approved, and we have to do whatever we can to survive . If this hadn't happened to me, it would have happened to another woman. What I went through was very painful,” Milagros told Presentes. She added, “Sometimes they judge you without knowing if we have needs. I'm a fighter, and I always try to make sure that a stumble isn't a fall.”

The legal case

The case, so far, is classified as assault and fraud. It is being handled by the Quilmes Prosecutor's Office No. 11 and the Florencio Varela Court of Guarantees, presided over by Judge Alejandro Ruggeri. The municipality provided Milagros with a panic button. "Together with several municipal departments and the Varela Diversa organization, we are drafting a joint complaint to submit to the Attorney General's Office and then to Prosecutor's Office No. 11 so that a thorough investigation can be carried out. Depending on the evidence, it will be determined whether the charges remain as they are or are changed," lawyer Daniel Giaquinta told Presentes.

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“We believe the case should be classified as gender-based violence. But the prosecutor's office told us that, as evidence is gathered, the charges could change and become more serious. The forensic doctor asked us for an X-ray of the broken nose, because that would further aggravate the sentence, especially given the brutality with which the aggressor treated her. If he had managed to suffocate her, we would be mourning yet another transfemicide today if her nephew hadn't arrived in time,” Márquez said.

The urgency of the trans employment quota

Milagros lives in a humble house with her 80-year-old mother and other family members. She is an activist and finished high school through the FINES program. In addition to studying at UNAJ (National University of Arturo Jauretche), she received training in HIV prevention, but, like many other trans people, she can't find formal employment. "Now I'm more lucid and I'm thinking about how we're going to file a complaint to get justice," she told Presentes. Márquez explained that Varela Diversa is demanding formal employment for her "because sex work puts her in a vulnerable situation." She emphasized the lack of support for the trans community. "We demand that the trans job quota be regulated in the province of Buenos Aires: It's one of the social responsibility issues that prevents our trans sisters from accessing formal employment that would allow them to escape the extreme vulnerability they face due to gender-based violence," she stated.

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In a statement, the president of the Argentine LGBT Federation, Marcela Romero, expressed that “unfortunately, we have to address yet another case of violence and discrimination, with the particular cruelty directed at our sisters. Once again, we must call the attention of society as a whole and ask the authorities for comprehensive public policies that promote a concrete cultural change, where our sisters can live like anyone else, without having to risk their lives. We say Enough! Enough of mistreatment, violence, and discrimination.” The Municipal Human Rights Department expressed its condemnation of “the brutal attack suffered by the LGBTQ+ activist” and offered legal assistance to the young woman.