By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile. Photo: Crónica Chillán. In one week, at least two attacks against LGBT people were reported in Chile. On July 9, Scarlet Pérez Mariange, a trans woman, was attacked with a machete and had her ear cut off. On July 15, a couple was assaulted by their neighbor in the Maule region as they returned from a party. Both acts of violence were reported by the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh), and legal complaints were filed. Scarlet Pérez Mariange was hitchhiking at the South Lateral Toll Plaza in the municipality of San Carlos (Ñuble region) when a truck stopped. “Everything was fine until the driver realized that Scarlet was trans. He immediately began speaking ill of trans people and grabbed a machete to attack Scarlet. We stand in solidarity with her and are already offering her all the legal guidance she needs,” said Paola Laporte, president of Movilh-Biobio.

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The victim recounted that after getting into the truck, “as we were approaching San Carlos, (the driver) started speaking very badly about transgender people and transvestites, and he insulted me as well. When he pulled out a machete, I ran.” Scartet added to the Diario Crónica de Chillán that the driver “caught me and hit me on the head with a machete. I fell unconscious at that moment, and he took advantage of it to kick me, cut my ear, and slash my face. When I came to, he had the machete to my face and was telling me he was going to kill me.” In the midst of this, the aggressor fell to the ground, cutting his own face with a machete, “and that was the moment Scarlet took advantage of to escape. She flagged down a jeep and was taken to a hospital, where she received treatment and her injuries were documented,” Laporte stated. “We categorically condemn this brutal and inhumane attack, which once again highlights the serious vulnerability faced by transgender people. We will cooperate fully with Scarlet to identify the perpetrator and bring him to justice, applying the aggravating circumstances of the Zamudio Law,” Laporte concluded.

"You fucking faggots, wherever I catch you I'm going to beat you up."

Rodrigo Castro and Dieter Burgos, both 30 years old, have been a couple for seven years. In the early hours of Sunday, July 15, they were attacked by a neighbor as they returned home to San Javier (Maule Region) after a party. “He followed us to the entrance, yelling, 'You fucking faggots, I'm going to beat you up when I find you.' When we tried to ignore him, he became more violent and jumped over the fence. He came at us, hitting us. We tried to get away, but he chased us, and that's when things got worse,” Dieter told Presentes. Rodrigo yelled for help. A neighbor heard him and called the police. Officers arrived quickly and arrested the assailant, known as “Pato,” who has already been formally charged by the local prosecutor's office. Dieter only knew him by reputation, as he had been arrested in 2015 for assaulting another gay neighbor. “When they finally got this madman off us, they took us to have our injuries documented and then to the police station. It was very important for us to make it clear that this wasn't a street fight, and that's why we insisted the complaint be recorded as a homophobic hate crime,” Dieter said over the phone from the Maule region, where he lives, a three-hour drive from Santiago. In that area, reports of homophobia and transphobia are common. increased 40% in the last year, According to data from the latest Human Rights Report on Sexual and Gender Diversity, prepared by Movilh, Rodrigo was left with facial injuries and is about to lose a tooth after the attack. Dieter is experiencing severe leg pain and believes he should return to the hospital for another checkup.

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Byron Reyes, spokesperson for MOVILH in the Maule region, believes that the Carabineros (Chilean police) and the Public Prosecutor's Office did a "good job" in this case. "They didn't release him, as has happened in so many cases like this, clearly motivated by sexual orientation," he told Presentes. He is asking the San Javier Public Prosecutor's Office to invoke the aggravating circumstance of the Zamudio Law to increase the penalties against the aggressor. Presentes attempted to contact the Public Prosecutor's Office but had not received a response by the time of publication. The chief prosecutor of the district, Patricio Caroca, told local media that the accused is 22 years old and that at the time of his arrest he was serving a six-year sentence under supervised release "for similar acts that occurred in 2015, when he assaulted another person, also because of their sexual orientation." This time, he was ordered to be held in pretrial detention because "the court considered that his release constitutes a danger to public safety," Caroca told the press.