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By Veronica Stewart

Katalina Martínez Yancha is an Ecuadorian trans woman incarcerated in Argentina. At the beginning of this year, she was in Penitentiary Unit No. 32 in Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires Province, when she began experiencing body aches. Other symptoms followed, including difficulty breathing, fever, and loss of appetite. Despite the fact that all these ailments were consistent with a diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB)—a very common disease in Buenos Aires prisons—the doctors who examined her claimed they were dealing with psychological problems and repeatedly sent her back to her cell. According to a statement released by Aramis, a lawyer and activist, and Naomi Lozano, Katalina's cousin, "when they examined her, they didn't check her respiratory capacity, and the person who attended to her told her he couldn't prescribe 'even ibuprofen because he wasn't a doctor.'"

“One Friday, a doctor from another unit came to the infirmary,” Marilyn, Katalina’s cellmate, told Presentes. “I took her in because she had a high fever. The doctor examined her and immediately referred her to the ‘Mi Pueblo’ Hospital in Florencio Varela.” Five days later, the test results showed she had tuberculosis. After two weeks in the hospital, Katalina was supposed to be transferred to Unit 22, a prison hospital in the Province of Buenos Aires. However, due to overcrowding, she was transferred back to Unit 32, isolated to prevent her fellow inmates from becoming infected. There, her condition worsened.

[READ ALSO: LGBTI+ population deprived of liberty denounces lack of protection against COVID-19 ]

As a result, the Court requested a report detailing both Katalina's detention conditions and her state of health. However, the report downplayed the severity of her condition and how the conditions of confinement had contributed to her decline. According to the statement, “on April 1st, the Public Defender's Office submitted another document demanding that the Court issue a ruling on Katalina's situation, what is known in legal circles as a 'prompt ruling.' However, it wasn't until the end of April that she was hospitalized again at El Cruce Hospital in Florencio Varela. Two weeks later, she was transferred back to prison, and after her condition worsened further, she was transferred to Unit No. 22.”

"There's very little food and he's cold."

Katalina and Naomi traveled for two and a half years before arriving in Buenos Aires. Since leaving Ecuador in 2010, they passed through Piura, Máncora, Chiclayo, and Lima in Peru, then Santiago, Chile, and Mendoza, before finally settling in La Plata. “We left Ecuador in search of a better life,” Naomi explained to Presentes. “We had no money and were discriminated against for being trans. We were mocked and laughed at, as if we were clowns. That's why we decided to emigrate to another country. Here, we were accepted by society. It's a different country with a society that never closed its doors to us and never made fun of us.” Despite not experiencing that discrimination, they had no other option but to work as prostitutes to survive.

[READ ALSO: Covid-19: Transvestites and trans people denounced as abandoned in prisons in the province of Buenos Aires ]

Both women went out to work every night, but three years ago Katalina was arrested: “We came here without any help or support. We were discriminated against in our own families,” Naomi says. “After a long time, we were finally accepted. Now, my aunt calls me, and I can’t talk to her because I don’t know what to tell her about Katalina. No one gives me any information.”

Communication from Unit 22 is indeed very limited. “The last time he called me was last Monday, and there wasn’t even light in his cell,” Marilyn said. “ The food is very scarce, and he’s cold.”

Naomi, for her part, has tried to get updates on her cousin's health through various channels. “They've never given me anything because she's in custody. I haven't heard a thing. I've been going to the 22nd precinct for a while now, and they haven't given me any information,” she explained to Presentes. “I went many times, but they never gave me a medical report. I went to the courthouse so many times, but they never listened.” Naomi says that when Katalina was in the 32nd precinct, before the pandemic, she did visit her frequently. The last few times she had been there, she had lost so much weight that, according to Naomi, “she didn't look like the same person she used to be.”

“We demand that the Third Chamber of the La Plata Court release Katalina Martínez Yancha and hold the authorities of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service and the judicial officials of the Oral Criminal Court No. 4 of La Plata responsible for the situation she is going through and the subsequent consequences she will suffer in her quality of life,” the statement claims.

The trans population in Buenos Aires prisons

According to a 2019 report by the organization OTRANS Argentina , 73% of transvestites and transgender people in Buenos Aires prisons suffer from some type of illness. The report was prompted by the deaths of four trans women while detained in La Plata in 2017. Pamela Macedo Panduro, Angie Velázquez Ramírez, and Damaris Becerra Jurado died in custody at Unit No. 32 in Florencio Varela. Brandi Bardales Sangama died at the San Martín Hospital in La Plata after a police raid on her home.

This is a result of inadequate healthcare. At the federal level, 25% of transgender women report not having received care despite needing it. This is compounded by a critical housing situation, as prisons in the Province of Buenos Aires are overcrowded, a problem that has persisted for years. Furthermore, the report highlights “deficiencies in access to adequate food and medication.”

“Katalina’s case is part of a larger pattern,” Aramis explained to Presentes. Aramis emphasized that, on many occasions, the lack of access to healthcare in prisons has proven lethal. In addition to the deaths mentioned, the case of Mónica Mego (36), a Peruvian trans woman who became paraplegic after spending a year detained in a prison without a conviction, came to light. The statement highlights how these institutional practices “systematically perpetrate violence against trans women and transvestites detained in the province of Buenos Aires.” “It is possible to reduce this harm,” Aramis asserted.

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