Double hate crime against a gay couple in Guatemala

Rudy Josué Guerra Cardona, 39, and José Alexis Ramirez Chinchilla, his partner, were shot to death.

May 21, 2020

By Pilar Salazar

Rudy Josué Guerra Cardona, 39, and his partner, José Alexis Ramirez Chinchilla, were shot to death on May 3 in their home in Aldea Quiriguá Bajo, Los Amates, Izabal, 200 kilometers northeast of Guatemala City. Neighbors discovered their bodies the following day. Volunteer firefighters from the village responded to the emergency and notified the Public Prosecutor's Office, which arrived to conduct the corresponding investigation and collect evidence of the crime.

Rudy was a well-known barber who, according to his sister, worked at the Los Amates municipal market. He lived with Elizabeth, a friend, and her family for a long time and was considered part of the family before moving in with José (his partner). A friend who worked with him describes him as someone who got along well with everyone: "He was kind, hardworking, humble, and cheerful."

José “El catracho” was of Honduran origin, from El Paraíso, Copan Ruinas, Ho and had been living in Guatemala for 7 years.

The Izabal Integrated Liberal Association, which coordinates human rights work for the LGBTIQ+ population in that Department together with the National Diversity Network, told Presentes that one of the lines of investigation into the double murder involves gang members.

José Alexis Ramirez Chinchilla was Honduran and had been living in Guatemala for 7 years.

The National Diversity Network and the Violent Deaths Observatory issued statements highlighting the recurring nature of violence in Izabal. To date, the Observatory has documented seven hate crimes, four of which occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, making Izabal the department with the highest number of hate crimes in Guatemala.

Increased violence against LGBT+ people in the context of Covid-19

Henry España of the Office of the Ombudsman for Sexual Diversity reported that in the previous week, the National Civil Police were intimidating trans and cisgender sex workers, demanding identification documents from them, indicating that from now on they would start arresting them if they found them offering their sexual services on the streets , supposedly on the orders of the PNC (National Civil Police) Directorate.

Since April, four trans women and a young gay man have been arrested for violating the curfew during quarantine, according to the records of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office of Sexual Diversity.

According to the Office of the Ombudsman for Sexual Diversity and the National Network for Diversity, one of the trans women arrested on April 9 had her hair shaved inside the Penitentiary Center in Escuintla, a measure prohibited since 2013.

In 2012, the General Directorate of the Penitentiary System had ordered, through a circular: “Due to related backgrounds or escapes, from this date forward, homosexual inmates must at all times wear clothing according to their natural gender (gay men as men with short hair, lesbian women as women) as appropriate .” But the Constitutional Court upheld a writ of amparo granted by Judge Carlos Aguilar on January 16, 2013, at the request of the Trans Queens of the Night Organization.

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