Another trans woman attacked in Peru: 76th attack in 2018

Cris Genesis del Castillo was attacked with a metal bar in October in Yurimaguas, in the San Martín region of the Peruvian jungle. Her partner is believed to have been the assailant.

45546493_1917638155210709_7259210490834845696_o

November 9, 2018

Esteban Marchand

LIMA, Peru. Cris Genesis del Castillo was attacked with a metal bar last October in Yurimaguas, in the San Martín region of the Peruvian jungle. The investigation indicates that her partner was the assailant.

Cris is a cosmetologist who graduated from the Amazonas-Yurimaguas Public Technological Higher Education Institute. She was in her beauty salon when she was attacked. The result of the violence: a fracture and three stitches in her right cheekbone.

Members of TRANS – a feminist organization for the human rights of transgender people – will travel to the city of Yurimaguas to support Cris Genesis. Presentes spoke with Miluska Luzquiños, a representative of this organization, who indicated that the state's free legal aid service, Public Defender's Office, has taken on the case and that the aggressor has been identified as Merino Fachin Sangama.

Among the reasons for the attack is the “ criminalization of HIV .” Miluzca Luzquiños explains that this term refers to the situation where “when a partner finds out they are living with a person who is HIV-positive, they physically or verbally abuse them.”

Sometimes, these attacks can lead to death, as happened to Brenda Caymanta on October 10, 2016. “However, many times the aggressor is the carrier of the virus that infected the trans woman.”

The Center for Documentation and Trans Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean (CEDOSTALC) has 76 registered cases of aggression against trans women in 2018. However, only 20% of these cases were reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

We are Present

We are committed to a type of journalism that delves deeply into the realm of the world and offers in-depth research, combined with new technologies and narrative formats. We want the protagonists, their stories, and their struggles to be present.