IACHR on alert due to wave of attacks against LGBT+ people in Latin America
The IACHR expressed its concern about the violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people reported so far in 2019 in various Latin American countries.
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Photos: Esteban Marchad and Ariel Gutraich/Presentes Archive
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) yesterday expressed its concern about the acts of violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people reported so far in 2019 in various Latin American countries.
In the statement , the IACHR highlights the high levels of brutality and cruelty of the crimes and that there is significant underreporting in the region regarding these incidents, since violence against LGBTI people is frequently not officially reported or reported by the media, leading to the invisibility of these acts.
He called on the OAS Member States to adopt “urgent and effective measures” that guarantee the life, security, personal integrity and dignity of people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and body diversity.
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Among these actions, the organization requested the inclusion of laws and policies that promote a cultural shift in societies, ensuring that crimes do not go unpunished. It also called for the production of statistical data on violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity , with a view to developing public policies that protect the human rights of LGBTI people.
The IACHR emphasizes that acts of violence against women, including lesbian, bisexual, and trans women, are experienced by them as intersecting manifestations of structural and historical sexism and prejudice against non-normative sexual orientations and gender identities. It adds: “ Lesbian women are at particular risk of sexual violence as a result of misogyny and gender inequality.”
[READ ALSO: #8M What the transfeminist marches in Latin America demanded]
In this regard, it highlights compliance with the Belém do Pará Convention, to prevent, punish and eradicate all forms of violence against women, including lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex women, "as part of every woman's right to live free from violence and discrimination."
The cases detailed below are those that came to the attention of the IACHR. However, it clarified that “due to the invisibility of the issue, these cases do not exclude others that have not yet come to its attention.”
Hate attacks in Chile
On January 1st, a gay couple in the city of Porvenir, Chile, were attacked by two men who threw a pot of boiling water on one of them and submerged the other in a bathtub of boiling water. One of the victims, 52-year-old José David Muñoz Vargas, suffered severe burns over 22% of his body and had to be hospitalized in Santiago.
[READ ALSO: #Chile Two attacks on gays in one day: boiling water and stones]
The IACHR also received information that on the same day in the city of Valparaíso, Chile, a 24-year-old man was attacked by individuals who offered him a ride to his destination in the Laguna Verde area. The victim was pulled from the car he was traveling in with two other people and physically assaulted after revealing in a phone conversation that he was gay. The perpetrators extinguished a cigarette on his hands and struck him on the head with a rock.
[READ ALSO: Gay cook murdered in Puerto Montt: hate crime reported]
The IACHR also received information about the case of rape and assault against a 14-year-old Chilean girl, who, according to civil society, suffered sexual abuse by her stepfather for being a lesbian, and beatings by her biological father for the same reason.
[READ ALSO: Brutal attack on trans man: he was beaten and a swastika was carved into his body]
The Commission emphasizes that the reported incidents were publicly condemned and are being investigated by the courts. It adds that the President of Chile condemned the attacks perpetrated on the grounds of sexual orientation.
[READ ALSO: Young gay man attacked on a bus in Santiago]
Hate crime in Peru
On January 1, a 17-year-old Peruvian boy was shot and killed by his father in San Martín, Peru, allegedly because he was gay. The father then reportedly committed suicide. Regarding this case, the Commission notes that the authorities have begun investigations, but the motives for the murder remain unclear. It states: “The Commission is aware of the general difficulty in determining whether violence is prejudice-based or not, and recalls that such a determination requires a thorough investigation of the causes of the violence, carried out under the principle of due diligence.”
[READ ALSO: #Peru Father killed his son and hate crime reported]
Hate attacks in Argentina
On January 5, the young gay man Pablo Dell'Oso suffered attacks due to his sexual orientation, which left him unconscious after leaving a nightclub in the city of Córdoba, Argentina.
On January 5, in a similar incident, trans activist Lara María Bertolini was attacked, under discriminatory statements, with a bottle that fractured her head while she was walking her pet in the City of Buenos Aires.
[READ ALSO: ARGENTINA 2019: 40 days of hate against LGBT+ people and trans exclusion]
The IACHR also received information about an attack on January 6 against a group of young lesbians and gay men. The group suffered verbal and physical assaults in a nightclub after the conclusion of the Diversity Festival in the city of El Bolsón (Río Negro), Argentina. The attack was apparently provoked by a kiss between two young people in the street. The Argentine State informed the IACHR that complaints had been filed with the corresponding police stations in both the case of Pablo Dell'Oso and the case of the young people from El Bolsón.
Hatred against trans people and lesbians in Brazil
On January 20, Quelly da Silva, a 35-year-old trans woman, was brutally murdered in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. According to reports, the perpetrator killed her because he considered her "a demon." After murdering her, the accused allegedly removed her heart and replaced it with a religious image.
[READ ALSO: #Brazil Threatened with death, the only gay congressman resigned and went into exile]
On January 19, Vanusa da Cunha Ferreira, a 36-year-old lesbian woman, was murdered in the Brazilian state of Goiás. According to reports, the accused confessed that he attempted to rape her in an attempt to change her sexual orientation, and that he killed her while trying to overcome her resistance. She died from multiple blows to the head.
[READ ALSO: Lana from Holland: “Being trans in Brazil means living in danger every day”]
Homophobia in Mexico
On January 20, a gay couple was attacked with stones in their home in Rosarito, Mexico. According to media reports, a group of individuals broke into the couple's home in the state of Baja California and physically assaulted them with stones. As a result of the attack, one of the couple died from severe head injuries.
Transvesticides in El Salvador
The Commission also received information about the murders of two transgender women in El Salvador , in two separate incidents on February 3 and 8, respectively. The first victim died in the hospital from multiple injuries. The second victim was attacked with a machete and also died in the hospital from her wounds.
Public spaces free from violence.
[READ ALSO: Hate crimes in El Salvador: two trans women murdered in one week]
“When violence against LGBTI people is condoned or tolerated, it further perpetuates the violence and fuels prejudice against these individuals,” the IACHR states. It emphasizes that several of the reported incidents of violence occurred in public spaces. In this regard, the Commission stresses that LGBTI people, like all people, have the right to develop freely and without violence or discrimination in both public and private spaces.
“The use of public spaces without discrimination and without violence is an important element for the inclusion of these people, as it fosters social cohesion, the exchange of ideas and experiences, respect for diversity, political participation, and also promotes a sense of belonging to the community or the place where one is located.”
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