By Georgina González

Photos courtesy of Perla Díaz

Dayanne, a 20-year-old trans woman, was struck by two cars on a main avenue in Tepic, the capital of the Mexican state of Nayarit, on January 17 around 5:00 a.m. “Red Cross paramedics found Dayanne unconscious, with a traumatic brain injury, her face disfigured, without a cell phone or identification. Her purse was still intact. When she arrived at the civil hospital, she was pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m.,” Perla Díaz , coordinator of Casa de las Muñecas Tiresias Nayarit (CAMTAC) .

“It gives us goosebumps, she was only 20 years old! For us, it’s a trans femicide, and the authorities must investigate with a human rights and gender perspective . It happened in a context where trans women experience a lot of violence, and it has to be investigated as such. We won’t stop until there is no impunity,” Díaz warned.

The prosecution uses male pronouns and alleges an accident.

On the afternoon of January 19, public officials from the Prosecutor's Office told Presentes via telephone that the cause of death was due to "injuries from being run over." During the call, they referred to her using male pronouns and only mentioned her name, Dayanne, once.

That evening, the Prosecutor's Office released a security camera video on social media documenting the incident. It shows Dayanne standing on the corner of Zapopan Avenue and Saturnino Peña Street when a first vehicle hits her, followed by a second car running over her. 

In that publication , the Prosecutor's Office states: "the investigation continues in order to find the whereabouts of the two vehicles seen in the video, as well as to exhaust all the procedures derived from what has been collected so far."

Human Rights Commission demands investigation

The State Human Rights Commission condemned what happened and urged the Attorney General's Office of the State of Nayarit to "fulfill its obligation to conduct a prompt, effective and impartial investigation, with a gender perspective."

According to records kept by the Center for Support of Trans Identities (CAIT), 7 trans women were murdered in Nayarit between 2007 and September 2020. Local organizations have no data on this. 

Why research should be conducted from a gender perspective

Dayanne was in the process of completing the administrative procedure to recognize her gender identity on her birth certificate. The Prosecutor's Office told Presentes that she did not complete this process and that "for this reason, it does not fall under the category of transfemicide, because it is not recognized in our Penal Code."

The Nayarit Penal Code does not include the aggravating circumstance of homicide based on gender identity. It only considers it "when committed due to sexual orientation, religious preference, or racial origin." In an interview, the Prosecutor's Office was unable to provide information on how many people have been murdered because of their sexual orientation.

CAMTAC Nayarit denounces the “lack of sensitivity and willingness to investigate with a gender and human rights perspective.” They demand that the case be investigated as a gender-based crime and that the protocol for law enforcement personnel be applied in cases involving sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Perla Díaz commented that when she arrived at the Prosecutor's Office to accompany Dayanne's mother and grandmother, the prosecutor on duty referred to Dayanne by the name she was registered with at birth. "The prosecutor asked us if we wanted to provide any information because they didn't have anything." 

Furthermore, they demanded that Dayanne's mother and grandmother be considered indirect victims due to their socioeconomic status and advanced age, so that the Prosecutor's Office would cover the funeral expenses. This is in accordance with the guidelines established by the State Commission for Comprehensive Victim Support. “When we requested that they cover the funeral expenses, the prosecutor told us, 'That's not how it's done here.' We insisted, Kenya Cuevas (a human rights advocate) guided us, and after a while, we succeeded,” Díaz recalls.

Dayanne's wake was held on the night of January 18th and she was buried the following morning. "On her coffin they placed a purple octopus plush toy and there were floral arrangements with red roses," describes the coordinator of CAMTAC Nayarit.  

Extorted and watched by “hawks”

“The last time we were together, we promised each other a meal, we hugged, we told each other we loved each other (…) and I swear I can’t believe what they did to her. The video from the Prosecutor’s Office on Facebook shows that it wasn’t an accident; they all went after my friend who dreamed of opening her own beauty salon. Life is so unfair. Nothing will bring my friend back (…) I miss her,” a friend of Dayanne, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Presentes.

She and members of CAMTAC Nayarit agree and describe her as a “noble, cheerful, genuine, innocent” person. “She liked makeup and showing off her long eyelashes.” 

In October 2020, Dayanne was attacked by people who extort money from businesses. This extortion involves paying a fee in exchange for being allowed to work. Dayanne had to pay 100 pesos a day to work. 

In the city of Tepic, three areas of prostitution are known. CAMTAC has documented that, at least in the city center, sex workers are extorted for protection money, but they have not yet determined whether this practice is carried out by police officers or lookouts. Lookouts are those within criminal organizations who monitor and report on the presence of the police or the military. 

 Dayanne worked as a sex worker in the city center. On one occasion, she positioned herself on a street corner to work and was "abducted" (a term coined during the "war on drugs," referring to a type of kidnapping where ransom money isn't necessarily the goal; sometimes this practice is used for intimidation and can also be a prelude to disappearance). 

“They kidnapped her for not paying,” says Perla Díaz. They took her to a hotel in the same area, beat her, stole her money and cell phone, and threatened her with having to pay to work. After this incident, Dayanne stopped working out of fear. And she couldn't keep paying the rent for the room where she lived. Her economic, food, and housing situation became even more precarious. Two months later, in December, Dayanne returned to work downtown, paying a daily fee of 100 pesos. 

“ We don’t know if the attack she suffered is related to this, we want to know what happened to Dayanne, we want justice, we want the truth ,” Díaz insists.

Rent collection

Extortion is common in states across the country where organized crime, the army, and the police have a strong presence, vying for territorial control. Nayarit is no exception. According to a 2016 report , sex workers in Mexico are victims of this practice, which can be perpetrated by members of drug cartels, the army, or the police. 

“It is urgent that this violence be viewed from a different perspective. We are realizing that the media here, society, and the authorities have an extremely transphobic discourse. And it is taking a lot of work to make people understand that trans women and sex workers are human beings with the right to live, to enjoy their gender identity free from violence , to be themselves without fear,” says Perla Díaz.