#Brazil A trans woman was stabbed to death while shouting "Yes to Bolsonaro"

The victim was attacked in front of a bar in downtown San Pablo by a group of men who had previously insulted her.

October 17, 2018

[Note updated on October 27, 2018]

A transgender woman was stabbed to death by a group of men in downtown São Paulo: it happened outside a bar in Largo do Arouche in the early hours of Tuesday, October 16. According to several witnesses, before attacking her they insulted her, shouting “Yes to Bolsonaro.”

According to the Military Police, as reported by Globo G1, they received a call at 4:50 a.m. reporting that a person was bleeding in the street. The victim was taken to a health center by the Fire Department, but died en route.

“She was with four or five men in front of the bar, and that’s when I started hearing shouts. An argument, a fight, they were calling her names, verbally abusing her, and yelling ‘Bolsonaro,’” said a neighbor. She recounted that she was sleeping and woke up to the shouting. She said that the men then fled and she heard the victim calling for help, saying that she “was going to die.”

Another neighbor of the bar also confirmed hearing chants of "Bolsonaro, ele sim" (Bolsonaro, yes). This chant has become popular among supporters of the far-right candidate who won the first round of the presidential elections with almost half the votes and who would go on to win the runoff on October 28. It emerged as a response to his opponents' "Ele Não" (Not him).

After the attack, the woman walked half a block to a hotel. There, the police were called. Thirty-six hours later, she still hadn't been identified.

Without identifying the attackers

The attackers have not yet been identified. "Investigations are underway to locate witnesses and security camera footage that may help identify the perpetrators. The body was sent to the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) for an autopsy," the Public Security Secretariat stated in a press release. It also reported that an investigation was conducted at the location where the body was found and where the attack began.

LGBTI organizations call for defeating fascism in Brazil's elections

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) and the Brazilian Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, Transsexuals and Intersex People (ABGLT) call on the people of Brazil to "end the violence, misogyny, homophobia, lesbophobia, transphobia, biphobia and racism that have caused us so much harm and to support the candidate of the Coalition 'O Brasil feliz de Novo' Fernando Haddad and decisively defeat the fascist political proposal of the candidate of the coalition 'Brasil ácimas de tudo, deus ácimas de todos' Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of the presidential elections."

"We reject Jair Bolsonaro's statements against our LGBTI community. We reject that he is ideologically opposed to us, that he promotes hatred through his speeches, which has already led to attacks and murders of members of our community by supporters of that candidate," they said in a statement.

Darío Arias, co-secretary general of ILGALAC, stated: “At ILGALAC, we understand that a victory for the fascist candidate Jair Bolsonaro would be a tragedy for LGBTI people, as it represents a threat to the right to identity and survival and would have a catastrophic impact on the entire region.”

Beto de Jesús, a member of the ILGALAC Regional Council, stated: “We will continue fighting against the fascism that plagues our region, we will continue our daily struggle to guarantee the rights of the LGBTI community in Brazil. We fought for years against the dictatorship and we won, we will continue fighting to defeat it again, that is our hallmark.”

Symmy Larrat, a trans activist and president of ABGLT, stated: “Brazil is living through terrible times. LGBTI people are being persecuted and threatened day and night. We have registered more than 100 complaints in just two weeks before the second round of voting, while the leading candidate in the polls reinforces fascist rhetoric and legitimizes this practice. Two trans women have already been murdered while people shouted that this man was going to win and that they were going to exterminate us. Fear is approaching our community, but we will continue the fight, because wherever there is an LGBTI person, there they will also find our resistance!”

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