Tehuel de la Torre is not at home and is not in the media either
Why are the acts of violence that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calls prejudice-based not made visible and massively condemned?
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Note published in the April 25, 2021 edition of Tiempo Argentino.
Where is Tehuel? He hasn't been at the house in San Vicente since March 11th . He's also absent from the media, which, with few exceptions, barely mentions him. Tehuel is a trans man, an identity that some media outlets render invisible, while others stigmatize, pathologize, or simply disrespect him.
The question lingers in his family, who strongly supported the search, in activist groups, and on social media. 45 days without Tehuel. It appears in some news articles, in the photos his girlfriend and activists posted around town, in human rights and LGBTQ+ organizations, and within the trans masculinity movement.
The question lingers in his family, who strongly supported the search, in activist groups, and on social media. 45 days without Tehuel. It appears in some news articles, in the photos his girlfriend and activists posted around town, in human rights and LGBTQ+ organizations, and within the trans masculinity movement.
Tehuel's photo wasn't shared widely on TV, as is the case with cisgender people. Why isn't the search and the reward of up to 2 million pesos for information being publicized ? Is it because Tehuel is a trans man, an unemployed young man working odd jobs, or because he lives in a working-class neighborhood? Is it the combination of all these factors that prevents him from getting media attention? It seems pointless to imagine what would happen if his identity were different (a cisgender young man, living in a Buenos Aires neighborhood, a student, or a professional).
Tehuel is the name that embodies historical injustices, exacerbated by the pandemic: the invisibility of certain identities and the structural violence suffered for many years by trans and travesti women and men. This is reflected in the media and also in the justice system.
There are two people in pretrial detention, and the lines of investigation point there. Is any hypothesis being pursued that considers transphobia? “Now the important thing is to find it,” seems to be the response. Justice with a gender perspective, transfeminist justice, is also a debt owed. And justice is not just the people who administer it.
The media hardly report on this anymore. Nor do they report on the national bill for trans and travesti labor inclusion that is awaiting debate in Congress . And for the most part, they didn't report on the surge in violence suffered by trans and travesti people in April . In Santiago del Estero and Tucumán, there were two transfemicides. Micaela Catán (28) died after suffering for years with half her body burned . Witnesses accuse her partner. Victoria Nieva (33) was murdered in her home , and her ex-partner is the main suspect. There were attempted transfemicides in Jujuy and Tierra del Fuego.
Why are these acts of violence, which the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calls prejudice-based, not more widely acknowledged and condemned? We need media outlets that treat everyone fairly. Because, as the IACHR states, prejudice-based violence thrives on social complicity.
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