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On Saturday, January 19, Billy Molina had gone with friends to a chaya celebration at the Tiro Federal club in the city of Chamical, in the province of La Rioja. The party was winding down, the place was starting to empty out, and while she waited for her friends to leave, a man approached her. Without saying a word, he grabbed her arm, dragged her out of the club, and hit her. He then fled on a local police motorcycle.

The aggressor is a police officer: Claudio Herrera Luna, second-in-command at the Women, Children, and Family Police Station in the city of Chamical, but currently serving as acting head. The 34-year-old trans woman reported this to the police at the city's second station that same night. “It was all very fast and violent. I was standing there waiting, and he came straight toward me to drag me out. He grabbed my arm without saying a word, then took me by both arms and started dragging me toward the exit. I started yelling at him that he couldn't do that to me and tried to struggle. During the struggle, he pushed me and punched me,” Billy told Presentes.

“There were so many people, and then they started yelling at the police commissioner, who fled without a helmet on a police motorcycle. The police officers who were there started threatening people, telling them not to say anything or they would be arrested,” the woman’s lawyer, Ana Abdala, told Presentes. The complaint was filed for gender-based violence and assault, after the local hospital confirmed the blows to her head and ribs.

Billy is a well-known and beloved event decorator in El Chamical. When she got home, she wrote on her social media: “No more abuse. This person verbally and physically assaulted me. I am outraged. It's 2019, can this still be happening?” She wrote it on her Facebook profile, posting it along with the photo she managed to take of her attacker. Immediately, dozens of people expressed their solidarity and came out in support of her. The Chilecito Inclusive Diversity Association (ADI) also issued a joint statement with the FALGBT (Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender People) condemning the attack and demanding justice, as well as formal and public condemnation of the aggressor.

Two days later, when the news broke in the local press, it was announced that Herrera Luna had been arrested. “The news came out as if justice had been served, but it only lasted 24 hours or less; then he was free again,” Billy said indignantly.

His lawyer explained: “First, he underwent an administrative investigation, during which he was detained for a day as a preventative measure. He was then transferred and relieved of his duties. Now he faces criminal charges.” She also emphasized that although the case was initially transferred from the police station to the courts as “assault,” it is expected that “the judge will now reclassify it as what it truly is: gender-based violence and assault.” In the coming days, Billy is expected to be summoned to expand on his complaint, and Herrera Luna is expected to be called for questioning.

“No one from the Municipality or the councilors showed any solidarity.”

Billy Molina is also employed by the Municipality of Chamical in the Department of Culture, where she was hired to work in her profession as a decorator and event organizer. “There, too, I suffered discrimination: from being fired to be replaced by other people from outside, to being told that they don't know how to treat me, that they don't know who I am.”

As soon as news of the attack broke, dozens of people from Chamical publicly expressed their solidarity with her on social media and in person. However, no one from the Municipality sent her a message of support or made any public statement. Provincial authorities from the La Rioja governor's office did issue statements. “The truth is, it angers and frightens me that no one here is willing to speak out publicly. This demonstrates, in addition to indifference, that they don't want to get involved with the police,” she told Presentes.

The commissioner had already been reported.

Following her complaint, several people on social media were encouraged to report other abuses by Commissioner Claudio Herrera Luna and other members of the local police force. The most serious case was that of a woman named Mariela Botella, who reported being “kidnapped” by Herrera Luna: “That man is a rude and disgraceful individual. Last year he arrested me for no reason. He hit me. He insulted me. He treated me terribly and held me captive for a whole day at the Women's Police Station with the help of his inept underlings; nobody knew where I was, not even my son,” she wrote. She added: “I had to keep quiet and endure his aggression, since I am a single mother with my child. I kept quiet for fear that he would harm my son.” Finally, she thanked Billy: “For always being so upright. I learn from you.”

This was Billy's first complaint, but not her first experience with the police. “I've been sitting in a bar before, and the police show up and tell me I have to leave. But since I know the law, I pretended to be talking to my lawyer, and they left. I've had several similar situations,” she said. She added, “There's a lot of police abuse here. And I think if this happens to me, someone who's quite well-known here, imagine what could happen to other trans women. And to other women, even if they're not trans.”