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By Lucas Gutiérrez

In one week, three hate crimes against the LGBT+ community took place in La Plata. On Monday, Herman Müller was kicked after being threatened with death. On Saturday, Jhonan de la Barrera and his partner were beaten by a group of men. And on Sunday, Cristian Uscamayta Curí was assaulted and attacked while being called “fucking Bolivian” and “fucking faggot.” These three incidents in one week signal a serious concern for the city of La Plata.

Sunday 29/7 

It was between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. on Sunday the 29th when Cristian Uscamayta Curi was returning from dancing. He was walking a little faster than his friend, who lagged behind, through the streets of La Plata, when, almost at the door of his building, he was attacked. “Give me your cell phone, you fucking Bolivian!” and “fucking faggot!” they yelled at him and began to beat him.

“I think there were three of them. I refused to give them my backpack, and one grabbed me by the neck and punched me in the eye,” Cristian told Presentes. “I was hit repeatedly. I tried to defend myself, but they threw me to the ground and kicked me in the head and ribs,” continued Cristian, 24, who works and studies law at the University of Legal and Social Sciences in La Plata. After the beating, he went to sleep, and when he woke up, still dizzy and in shock, he posted a statement on his Facebook wall recounting what happened. “At one point, I stopped defending myself because I thought they were going to kill me,” he added.

On Monday, Uscamayta Curi set out to seek answers in the justice system. He recounts that when he tried to file a complaint: “I called 911 and they told me to go to the nearest police station, but at the Second Police Station in La Plata –Avenida 38, between 7 and 8– they told me that wasn't the right place, that I should go to the First Police Station.”

He finally went to the First Police Station of La Plata, located on Avenida 53, where the victim explained that the complaint was filed for robbery and assault, with the intervention of Fiscal Unit 09, headed by Dr. Maribel Firmus. Cristian's Facebook post reveals his anger and anguish, both from the physical blows and the emotional trauma.

“Words hurt a lot, and then to be beaten to a pulp,” he wrote on social media on Sunday. He explained that when filing the complaint, he emphasized the hateful nature of the attack, specifically the fact that he was gay and had northern features: “There’s no need for such cruelty.”

Cristián is the brother of Yésica Emilia Uscamayta Curí, a young woman who died at an illegal party in La Plata in 2016. Cristian is one of the voices demanding justice in this case, which is currently classified as simple homicide with implied malice and is awaiting trial.

Saturday 28/7

It was approximately 4:15 a.m. when Jhonan de la Barrera (21) and his partner, Joel Rochieri (24), were walking along 43rd Street. As they crossed the intersection of 4th and 5th Streets, four men got out of a 4x4 truck and attacked them. Jhonan described the incident in a post on his Facebook wall.

“You fucking faggot, give me everything,” he told this news outlet. “They punched and kicked me, then threw me to the ground. My leg and calf are injured,” he explained, adding that Joel managed to escape, and then he did. They ran until they took refuge in the bus terminal a few blocks away.

Jhonan recounts that while two of the aggressors attacked them, they saw the rest watching and laughing: “They didn’t take anything, clearly they were doing it for fun in a context where violence surfaces and is legitimized by a State that does not apply anti-discrimination policies,” he also shares this in the post titled THE SAME STORY AGAIN.

And the "again" is because Jhonan and Joel were already victims of hate attacks for being gay . Last September, a group of thugs attacked them in the streets of La Plata. Agencia Presentes inquired about the progress of the case at that time: "Nothing happened, we haven't heard anything new," says De la Barrera. Jhonan and Joel are both activists and say they will file a report on Tuesday regarding the recent attack.

Monday 23/7

That same week, Hermann Müller was attacked in the streets of La Plata. “He’s a faggot, let’s kill him,” they shouted at him in the early hours of Monday before kicking him. After sharing his experience on social media, Agencia Presentes spoke with the 30-year-old actor and employee.

Three days later, the Mayor of La Plata, Julio Garro, met with Hermann. “He told me that his duty as mayor was to defend and support all the citizens of La Plata, especially when injustices like the one I had suffered occurred,” Müller explains. When asked if the mayor committed to taking any action, Hermann said that he made all of his administration's contacts available to him.

Lucía Ríos is the director of the Gender and Diversity Area for that city, and she also participated in the meeting. “What we do in the diversity area is advise them on what actions they can take to ensure that justice is served,” Ríos explains. “For us, homophobia doesn't exist; you don't fear a person, you hate them,” she continues.

On Monday the 23rd, when Hermann Müller went to file a report at the second police station – located on Avenida 38 between 7 and 8 – he was not treated properly and they refused to take his statement. “We contacted this police station and proposed providing diversity training so they know what procedures to follow,” Ríos explains.

Actions from the government

“Sometimes you don’t intend to discriminate, but because you don’t know how to express yourself, you do it,” says the director of the gender and diversity department in La Plata. When asked about immediate actions to be taken in response to the hate situation, Ríos says that training programs will continue to be implemented in schools, student centers, clubs, and more, and adds that awareness campaigns will be launched in August.

Hermann Müller, Jhonan de la Barrera, Joel Rochieri, and other activists told this publication that they contacted each other to seek joint responses to the serious situation that came to light this week.

On Monday the 23rd, in the context of the attack on Müller, Agencia Presentes spoke with activists from the LGBTIQ+ community. Darío Arias, a leader of Conurbanxs por la Diversidad (Suburbanites for Diversity), condemned the attack and warned of the increase in violence against the LGBTIQ+ community. Meanwhile, Vicente Garay, a member of the Gender Secretariat at the Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication of the National University of La Plata (UNLP), said: “In our city, violence against the LGBTIQ+ community is increasing while Mayor Julio Garro poses with colorful signs on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. This is part of the cynicism with which the municipal government operates, while it defunds public policies for the prevention of violence and discrimination. Once again, we see the impunity with which an absent state seeks to force us back into that closet we promised never to return to.”

Regarding future actions by the municipality, Garay comments: “There is an intention to show a romanticized view of diversity that is very far removed from the reality that is experienced every day, a reality of discrimination and persecution that has nothing to do with emptying the colors of the flag of their meaning.”

This week, three homophobic and hateful attacks occurred in La Plata, adding to the climate denounced in the report by the National Observatory of LGBT Hate Crimes, which is part of the Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT). The report details that in 2017 there were at least 103 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity. It also warns of a drastic increase in attacks in public spaces.

[READ ALSO: #HateCrimes2017 Drastic increase in street attacks in Argentina]

Darío Arias, a leading figure in Conurbanxs por la Diversidad (Suburbanites for Diversity), condemned the attack and warned of the increase in violence against the LGBT+ community. Meanwhile, Vicente Garay, a member of the Gender Secretariat at the Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication of the National University of La Plata (UNLP), stated: “In our city, violence against the LGBTI community is on the rise while Mayor Julio Garro poses with colorful signs on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. This is part of the cynicism with which the municipal government operates, while it defunds public policies for the prevention of violence and discrimination. Once again, we see the impunity with which an absent state seeks to force us back into that closet we promised never to return to.”

These three homophobic attacks add to the climate denounced in the report by the National Observatory of LGBT Hate Crimes, which is part of the Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT). The report details that in 2017 there were at least 103 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity. The report also warns of a drastic increase in attacks in public spaces.