Trans woman murdered in Lima; Serenazgo's inaction denounced

Angie Mimbela del Águila was 26 years old. She was a prostitute and died due to the inaction of the Serenazgo (municipal security force).

February 25, 2020

By Vero Ferrari

Angie Mimbela del Águila, a 26-year-old trans woman, was murdered in the early hours of February 9th in the Villa El Salvador district, one of the poorest in Lima. She was walking along the intersection of Juan Velasco Alvarado and Pachacútec avenues when a man approached her, they struggled, and he stabbed her.

The young woman walked nearly 100 meters and remained alive for over 45 minutes, pleading for help while bleeding profusely. Neither passersby nor the Serenazgo (municipal security) personnel who arrived in response to neighbors' calls provided her with the necessary assistance. According to neighbors, municipal staff refused to collect Angie's body and take her to a hospital, leaving her to die on the pavement.

“We don’t know who did it, we only know that it was like a settling of scores, because they stabbed him from down there, where the blood, the whole path he traveled, and he ended up there, and they didn’t want to help him, because that’s the truth, he was alive, 45 minutes alive and the Serenazgo (municipal security force) didn’t want to pick him up or take him to any hospital, why? Because he was gay, they saw him there, they let him die,” a neighbor told the press, not respecting Angie’s gender identity.

When the police arrived at the scene, the young woman showed no vital signs. According to the police report, the victim's cousin stated that Angie was a prostitute and that the area was her workplace.

For activist Taki Robles, executive director of the organization dedicated to protecting trans women, “Amigas por siempre” (Friends Forever), Angie's murder is a hate crime: “Any excessive violence and evil against us is a hate crime, because it's not a coincidence that someone comes up, tries to snatch your purse, and then cuts your throat. Furthermore, it's a hate crime against a woman in a situation of extreme vulnerability, and there are many cases of trans women who have been murdered and the police don't investigate, nor will they. We can be killed every day, but because we are sex workers, because we are poor, because we are trans, we won't receive justice; in fact, they'll blame us for our own deaths. In this country, they have even excluded us from respect for our lives by normalizing our murders.”

Because of this, LGBTI activists have called for a protest sit-in in front of the Villa El Salvador Municipality due to the inaction that led to Angie's death, the lack of preparedness to handle cases of violence against vulnerable people, and the total dehumanization of its security personnel, who saw a trans woman die in front of their eyes and did nothing.

Faced with the ominous silence of the authorities, Lima councilman Manuel Siccha has submitted a request for information, within the framework of his oversight and metropolitan functions, so that the Police Station, as well as the District Municipality of Villa El Salvador, report on the actions and investigations they have taken, since they are the ones who have to account for the apparent neglect regarding this hate crime.

“Given the circumstances, Angie’s case is a brutal murder marked by impunity, as neither the local security patrol nor the police have provided her with the necessary assistance, thus initiating a dereliction of duty by a number of institutions. The State has international obligations to fulfill regarding its responsibilities to investigate, prosecute, and punish serious human rights violations, such as hate crimes, and we will therefore be monitoring the ongoing investigation.”

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