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By Alejandra Zani

Elamaá Luz was leaving the Liberty nightclub in Puerto Piray, Misiones, when she was attacked by three people in the early hours of Sunday, January 19. As she walked down the street, they chased her and insulted her. When she stopped to respond, a man held her down, immobilizing her, while three other women, whom the victim identified as Griselda Ruiz Díaz, Zulema Ruiz Díaz, and Karina Figueredo, beat her. According to a statement from ATTTA Misiones, the provincial police were present “but did nothing to stop the beating.” 

“This started from inside the club. When I went to the bathroom with my friend Natalia Martínez, these girls approached the door and started telling me I couldn't go into that bathroom, that I have balls and I have to go to the men's room ,” Elamaá Luz told Presentes. “I replied that I didn't want any trouble and that I wanted to end the night well.”

But as they left the bowling alley around 5:30 in the morning, Elamaá and her friends were intercepted again by the aggressors. “One of them tried to hit Natalia. I stepped in, Karina grabbed me from behind, and they both started hitting me. Pablo Mercado was also there; he’s the nephew of the justice of the peace in Puerto Piray, the same one who’s going to summon me to testify, and once again the case will just fizzle out.” 

Elamaá gave her statement at the police station, not very confident that the complaint would go anywhere. There, she says, Karina approached her and threatened to kill her. “She told me that next time she wouldn't just have me beaten, she'd have me shot. The police were there the whole time. What are they supposed to do, if they're not trained? When they drive by in their truck, they mock me or laugh at me. Two officers accompanied me to the doctor, who wouldn't even examine me. He just asked me what hurt and that was it; he didn't even look at the bruises,” the complainant says. They also didn't give her a copy of her complaint, even though she asked for one. 

[READ ALSO: Bouncers attacked a trans boy and his partner at a nightclub in Necochea ]

After her statement, Elamaá did not obtain a restraining order, a panic button, or any other option to guarantee her safety. “I want this complaint to be filed criminally, to reach INADI (National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism), and for them to give me some kind of solution. This isn't the first time this has happened to me in Misiones.”  

The INADI Intervention

Following the events in Puerto Piray, and for the first time in the province, the INADI (National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism) Misiones delegation will travel to the department of Montecarlo to support Elamaá and take her statement. “INADI has always been headquartered in Posadas and never relocated. If she didn't travel, she couldn't file a complaint, but that changed with the new administration, and our proposal is to travel to Puerto Piray so she can file her complaint with INADI,” explains Silvia Risko, the Institute's new delegate in Misiones. “Jazmín can't come to Posadas because she lacks the resources, but it's not her responsibility to travel either. We are the ones who have to go and be with her. That will be our management policy.” 

INADI's task is to receive Elamaá's complaint, send it to Buenos Aires, and wait for the legal department at headquarters to issue a ruling. “We will try to make the process as quick as possible. Once that happens, the ruling can be presented to strengthen Elamaá's complaint,” Risko explains. 

For the INADI delegate in Misiones, what happened in Puerto Piray highlights the lack of gender perspective training within state institutions. “What worries me most is the actions of the police, who should be trained. The state is always lagging behind social changes.” Risko's position sets a strong institutional and political precedent in the province of Misiones because, as she said

Nazarena Fleitas, coordinator of ATTTA Misiones, is the first delegate to travel to the interior. 

A transphobic province

“Transphobia in Misiones is terrible, and it’s even worse in the interior,” Fleitas explains to Presentes. “There’s a lot of discrimination from the police themselves. Despite gender training, institutional sexism is deeply ingrained, and coming from a government that isn’t willing to end it and even covers it up, things are getting worse and worse.” 

According to Fleitas, ATTTA Misiones received a discrimination complaint from another member two weeks ago. “This isn’t the first time Elamaá has been attacked either. Something similar happened to her once at a bar in El Dorado. They beat her and hit her in the face with a brick, and the police just left her there.” As for Pablo Mercado, Fleitas asserts that he was present at several altercations, but because he is the nephew of the justice of the peace, he always gets away with it. 

[READ ALSO: 2019: Record number of LGBT+ violence incidents and social transvesticides in Argentina ]

“We are the only organization that works on gender issues, but we are not affiliated with any law firm and we don't have the means to travel, so we are very limited. As coordinator, I try to guide people and put them in contact with the relevant entities so they can complete the necessary procedures,” she explains.