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By LG with MEL

Ana Lucía Lola Soraire, a 39-year-old trans woman living in Merlo (Buenos Aires province), reported that while under quarantine due to Covid-19, she was the victim of a hate crime at her home, and that someone tried to kill her. According to Karla Benítez, a fellow trans woman who was with her in recent days, on April 6th a group of acquaintances attacked Lola—as she is known—at her front door with a sledgehammer, chains, and stones until she was unconscious. Karla also reported that Lola had been receiving threats on social media for some time. She added that the police took her friend's report for robbery and assault, but that they "didn't grasp the severity of the attack she suffered."

While Lola was at the courthouse trying to expand her complaint, Karla explained: “They told us the aggressor’s home had already been raided, but we don’t know for sure. And that they couldn’t do much more than issue a restraining order because they don’t know who to issue it to. Meanwhile, these people with fake Facebook accounts keep sending threats to Lola, me, and those around us. It’s not an isolated incident; it’s an attempted transfemicide against a trans woman. They wanted to kill her, and they said so: ‘I’m going to kill you, you fat faggot.’”

Karla recounts that since November 2019, the victim had been receiving threats on Facebook “from a circle of people she used to see but no longer does.” She goes on to say that even after distancing herself from them, the threats continued via social media and WhatsApp: “to threaten and denigrate her. They called her 'Fat faggot' and 'White Elephant,' things that are used to attack a trans woman.” On Sunday the 5th, according to her account, Lola received threats again but dismissed them as just another one.

Her friend recounts that on Monday the 6th, while Lola was on the phone at her home in Merlo, she heard someone calling her from outside. She recognized the voice of an acquaintance and went to the door. “But when she put one foot outside to open the gate, she felt a blow from behind with something heavy that made her fall to the ground,” Karla said.

“In her confusion, she saw someone hand a sledgehammer to the attacker, who then struck her repeatedly in the head. She shielded herself with her hands as he yelled, ‘I’m going to kill you, you fucking faggot,’ while four other people attacked her with chains and rocks. According to Karla, “the neighbors came out, screamed, and the attackers ran off and jumped into a car. During their escape, they took her belongings, ID, and cell phone. Before leaving, they warned her, ‘We’ll come back tonight and burn your house down, you faggot,’” says Karla, who visited her friend at the Eva Perón Municipal Hospital and learned the whole story. 

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, her companion explains that Lola received medical attention but was sent home as soon as possible to avoid infection: “The Women's Police Station was 15 blocks from the Eva Peron Hospital. They only let her approach it. There she said that she had been beaten and her cell phone stolen. They said that if it was a robbery, she had to file a report at the local police station. And they listed the reason as theft of a cell phone and money. That's not the reality.” 

Ivana Gutiérrez is the Director of Diversity Policies within the Secretariat of Women, Gender and Equity, Diversity and Human Rights of the municipality of Morón, Buenos Aires province, and says: “Access to justice should be a right as a citizen, but something isn't working. The Gender Identity Law isn't respected, and people aren't respected for how they identify. The lives of transvestites and trans people continue to be worthless to certain institutional sectors of society.”

Karla recounted that the Women's Police Station sent her to the Fourth Police Station in the town of Libertad, where she was told she needed to expand her statement. At the courthouse, she was told she had to write it out in her own handwriting and send it by email to be included in the complaint. “Because of the lack of access to justice, very few cases are prosecuted. Out of ten cases, only two people dare to file a complaint. Trans people have nowhere to receive support when filing these reports,” Ivana Gutiérrez added.

“At the Living Without Violence Center, which houses the Morón Directorate of Diversity Policies, we address all issues related to gender violence and violence against the LGBTQ+ community. We have a 24-hour hotline,” Gutiérrez said.

Karla says that the online attacks against Lola, herself, and those around her continue. “What happens on social media isn't just hate speech, but hateful acts that, unfortunately, many of my trans and travesti sisters continue to experience,” explains Ivana Gutiérrez. “Society still hasn't caught up. The rhetoric is all well and good, but the reality is quite different because attacks against the community persist on every level. We can't talk about progress when our rights and identities continue to be violated.”

“I’m with her, she lives alone, because they threatened to set her house on fire again with her inside,” says Karla, while the country remains in general isolation in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.