By Luciana Caminos. Eleven trans women from Rosario and eight from the city of Santa Fe have begun the process of accessing a pension granted to victims of the dictatorship, under Provincial Law 13.298 . The law establishes a monthly pension payment for people who can prove they were "deprived of their liberty for political, union, or student-related reasons" between March 24, 1976, and December 10, 1983. " For us, this reparation means recognition of so many years of struggle and lack of access to almost all rights: to study, to work, to live with dignity, to the persecution we experienced simply for being trans . It's a way to defend ourselves in this old age that awaits us," said Marcela Viega. Viega is one of the trans women from Rosario who filed the application for this reparation. She added, "It guarantees us food, rent, and medicine." Esteban Paulón, Undersecretary of Sexual Diversity for Santa Fe, told Presentes that the law stipulates a series of requirements for the recognition of this right, including information obtained through the courts. Cases proceed through various civil courts, but it is the Provincial Social Security Fund that determines whether compensation is due.

[READ MORE: LGBT memories persecuted and silenced under dictatorship]

"There was cruelty towards LGBTI people, and especially towards trans people."

In Santa Fe, for more than four years—since the law was passed—social pensions have been paid to people who were imprisoned during the last dictatorship for political, union, and student-related reasons. But the trans and travesti community had not yet been included. “We believe that Gender identity is a political component, because the policy of the de facto government was repression and punishment.. There was particular cruelty towards the LGBT community, and especially towards the trans population, with specific detention and torture facilities. "The dictatorship project promoted a type of family where minority groups, due to various conditions, did not fit into the ideal of God, Fatherland and Family," Paulón said when consulted for this article.

"It is clear that this was a systematic persecution."

“We argue that exercising one’s self-perceived identity is a political act. The law establishes that arrests can be proven through judicially obtained witness statements. Many of the arrests can be proven because they come from criminal records or the records of the petty offense courts. What’s interesting about the testimonies and the news reports is that it’s clear this was a systematic persecution,” said Ricardo Lamas, a lawyer with the Santa Fe Human Rights Secretariat.

[“The LGBTI struggle is also part of Memory, Truth and Justice”]

In Rosario, 11 cases have already been filed: in one of them, the courts confirmed that the trans person who filed the claim was detained because of their gender identity. “More cases are expected to receive a court ruling in the coming days,” said Paulón. In Santa Fe, the applications are still being processed due to delays by some public agencies in issuing the records that prove they were detained, explained one of the trans women who is applying for the pension. The “XY” pavilion During that period, the Rosario Police Headquarters building had a pavilion called "XY," designated for LGBT people detained for being "deviant." "When the testimonies are analyzed, it becomes clear that Repression simply for being trans women. Some suffered sexual abuse and other forms of violence. They were young women expelled by their families who lived on the streets and had no alternative to survive: many died. And others left. When the police saw them, they charged them with vagrancy and prostitution. They were very young girls,” Lamas said. An article in the Misdemeanor Code in effect at that time allowed for the arrest of a person for “cross-dressing,” that is, for being dressed in clothing of the opposite sex. Among the evidence included in the files opened to grant the pensions is a note published in the newspaper The Capital From Rosario, at the end of the dictatorship, he points out: "Known homosexuals walked down the street dressed as women." The newspaper article states that two young people, aged 16 and 17, were arrested and notes that "the conspicuous presence of sexual deviants extends to numerous bars, cafes, and downtown street corners." It suggests that "beyond the various ways to confront this societal ill, perhaps intensified police surveillance and procedures to repress prostitution and homosexuality would be effective." Transgender individuals were arrested for periods of no less than 30 days, and when they were arrested again, their detention was aggravated, according to the Code of Misdemeanors. “Their belongings were taken from them and they were sexually abused.” On March 9, former Health Minister Daniel Gollán testified in the Rosario courts as an eyewitness to the detention of two transgender women during the last dictatorship. According to the Télam news agency, the former official had been kidnapped on July 16, 1976, and after being held in a clandestine detention center, he was "legalized" and placed at the disposal of the National Executive Branch (PEN). He recounted that in that place he had met two transgender people who had been detained because of their gender identity, not for any crime. "One was a blonde with fair skin and the other had olive skin," he recalled, adding that the place had "two rooms connected by a wide archway. They told me how they were arrested and detained, how their belongings and money were taken from them, and how they were often sexually abused," he said.