Paraguay: They tried to murder a trans woman with metal rods
Lorena Ortega, 40, survived an attempted murder last night in the city of San Lorenzo. Three men and a cisgender woman threw her to the ground and began beating her with stones and metal rods.
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By Juliana Quintana
Lorena Ortega, 40, survived an attempted murder last night in the city of San Lorenzo. Around 9:30 p.m., a gray pickup truck pulled up a block from Lorena's house. Three men and a cisgender woman got out, and she started running. They caught up with her near the intersection of General Genes and San Lorenzo streets, threw her to the ground, and began beating her with rocks and metal rods.
They threatened to kill her and told her they were going to tie her to the truck and drag her. “Embuepoti iñakare.” “Hit her on the head,” one of the attackers told his companion in Guarani. When Lorena heard this, after a struggle, she managed to get up and escape.
She took refuge for an hour and a half in a motel bathroom, boarded a bus, and went to her friend Isabel's house in Capiatá, where she received first aid. According to Cinthia Acosta, a licensed professional at the San Lorenzo Regional Hospital (Calle'i Hospital), she had a laceration on her forehead when she arrived at the clinic, the result of the attempted murder.
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“It was around eleven at night, I was with another colleague sharing a dinner for my birthday and suddenly Lorena arrived. We were scared because, when we opened the door, she was all covered in blood. She told us that four guys beat her and told her they were going to tie her by the neck to the truck and drag her until they killed her,” Isabel Gamarra, an activist with Escalando, told Presentes.
Yren Rotela, a human rights advocate and activist with Panambi, recounted that Lorena spent the night at Casa Diversa, a shelter for LGBT victims of violence. “There’s a large group of men who travel this route and often come to harm us,” Yren said. “They throw projectiles at our companions, shoot them with slingshots, and throw bottles. We don’t know if it’s the same group, but it’s not the first time this has happened to us; there have already been murders in that area.”
Lorena didn't manage to identify her attackers, but she filed a police report at the First Police Station in San Lorenzo. This is one of thirty reports that haven't reached the prosecutor's office so far this year. "We already reported this to the police station at the time. We made the connection because the procedure is similar. They take advantage of us when we're alone to grab us," Yren stated.
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“We want justice. We won't let this go unpunished; we're going to do everything possible to ensure those responsible are arrested,” Isa stated. Presentes contacted the San Lorenzo 1st Police Station regarding Lorena Ortega's case, but they declined to comment. The complaint was filed using Lorena's birth name and referred to using masculine pronouns throughout the document.
“This is the reality for many of us: we are in danger and unprotected, at the mercy of murderous men. Under the gaze and complicit silence of a hypocritical and double-standard segment of society,” the activist posted on her Facebook profile.
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