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By Esteban Marchand, from Lima. 

On January 1st, a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed by his father after a family argument. His father also wounded his wife, who tried to defend her son; he then fled and committed suicide. While the investigation into the cause of the argument is still ongoing, the case became known as the first hate crime of 2019 and sparked a national debate about homophobia in Peru.

It happened in the district of Saposoa, in the San Martín department, in the Peruvian jungle. At a family home in the San Juan neighborhood of the Alto Pachiza hamlet, Humberto Herrera Altamirano shot his 17-year-old son, Moisés Herrera Muñoz, and wounded his wife, the young man's mother. According to various media outlets, neighbors confirmed that the young man's father did not accept that his son was gay.

The hypothesis of a homophobic crime was ratified by the organizations Trans, Casa Trans, and Red Lac Trans in a joint statement. In it, they call on the government to take concrete actions to end hate crimes, which currently lack specific penalties in Peru: “(...) enact measures against hate crimes, the eradication of which requires gender-focused education, something opposed by Fujimorism and ultraconservative Catholic and Evangelical sectors.”

Former provincial mayor of San Martín, Manuel Nieves, also made statements: “We cannot call ourselves a society if acts that threaten the lives of my LGBTQ+ colleagues continue to occur. We insist on education based on a gender perspective to end this social scourge. Homophobia and sexism kill, and so does your indifference.”

The Ministry of Social Development and Inclusion also tweeted: “We are all equal. We condemn the murder of the teenager in San Martín,” reads a tweet published on January 4 with the hashtags #NoMoreHateCrimes

[READ ALSO: Peru: Congress approved the repeal of Decree Law 1323 that protected the LGBTI population]

We are all equal. We condemn the murder of the teenager in #SanMartín . #NoMoreHateCrimes #IncludePeru pic.twitter.com/nwmvoU6C4l

— MIDIS (@MidisPeru) January 5, 2019

The family, the first link of LGBTI-phobic violence

According to the TRANS statement, “discrimination and violence in homes is severe and often leads to suicides or homicides like the one that occurred in Saposoa. The neglect that many children and adolescents with sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions different from heteronormativity experience in homes, schools, and society is often not documented; it is not even registered as a complaint since in many sectors it is considered corrective punishment that can even lead to death.”

[READ MORE: How the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' decision to respect LGBT rights affects Peru]]

They also asked the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations to start a campaign working with parents and relatives: “It is urgent to guarantee families that accompany the transition processes; identity and sexual orientation, we cannot allow them to continue being expelled, insulted, raped and killed (…) The family often constitutes the first link of transphobic, lesbophobic and homophobic violence .

The young man's murder sparked a national debate about homophobia and LGBTQ+ phobia in Peru. For Adré Mere, a young Afro-Peruvian activist with Gay Latino, the government should take action to make LGBTQ+ people visible. "It's not enough to just take a picture or issue a statement when we're killed," he said.

Psychologist and activist Alexandra Hernández Muro believes the government must undertake three major tasks: prevention, support, and prosecution. “In terms of prevention, educational staff (teachers and principals) must be trained to properly implement gender-sensitive education, setting aside personal and religious beliefs. Regarding support and prosecution, police and justice system personnel must also be educated to understand the specific circumstances surrounding hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals.”

READ MORE Peru: Congress approved the repeal of Decree Law 1323 that protected the LGBTI population

For Alexandra, the family should be the safest place, and through a gender-sensitive approach, sexual orientations that seem different could be normalized, minimizing gender stereotypes that can be even more harmful. “However, statistics indicate that the family is the least safe space for LGBT people. These are spaces where hate speech is most easily replicated,” she lamented.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Merino, from the Association of Families for Sexual Diversity Peru, emphasizes that the support of its members can make a substantial difference in how a person will be able to face discrimination in society. “The secular nature of the State must be reaffirmed. These prejudices, which manifest as bullying and pressure on young people to be 'cured' of their sexual orientation, come from conservative groups that the State must combat,” he told Presentes.

“Forgive me, Lord, Holy Father”

Tarapoto Television, a regional TV channel, published an audio recording in which Humberto Herrera can be heard, after the shooting, lamenting what he did and asking for forgiveness "from God": "Forgive me, Lord, Holy Father, for all that I have done on this earth and in this life. I ask you to take care of my little boy, take care of him, Father, do not abandon him, help me, Lord, give him comfort," he can be heard saying in the audio.

Police explained that after committing the murder, Humberto fled, and his body was found hours later. It was determined that he committed suicide. Two days after the murder, the full audio recording was released on the local TV channel 'Vía Televisión,' revealing another part of the conversation that suggests the argument stemmed from a lawsuit.

Agencia Presentes attempted to contact PNP Commissioner Alfonso Hidalgo, from the Saposoa police station, but they refused to provide information.