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 biased not made visible and widely condemned?
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Article published in the April 25, 2021 edition of Tiempo Argentino.
Where is Tehuel? He hasn't been at his home in San Vicente since March 11th . He's also not in the media, which, with few exceptions, barely mentions him. Tehuel is a trans man, an identity that some media outlets make invisible and others stigmatize, pathologize, or disrespect.
The question persists in his family, who strongly supported the search, in activists, on social media. 45 days without Tehuel. In some news articles, in the photos his girlfriend and activists posted on the streets, in human rights and sexual diversity organizations, in trans masculinities.
The question persists in his family, who strongly supported the search, in activists, on social media. 45 days without Tehuel. In some news articles, in the photos his girlfriend and activists posted on the streets, in human rights and sexual diversity organizations, in trans masculinities.
Tehuel's photo wasn't widely shared on TV, as it is with cisgender people. Why aren't they more publicizing the search, the demand for a reward of up to 2 million pesos for anyone who provides information ? Is it because Tehuel is a trans man, an unemployed young man working a side job, or because he lives in a working-class neighborhood? Is it because of all this that he doesn't get media attention? It seems pointless to imagine what would happen if his identity were constituted differently (a cisgender young man, a Buenos Aires neighborhood, a student or a professional).
Tehuel is the name that combines historical debts, which the pandemic exacerbated: the invisibility of some identities and the structural violence that trans and transvestite femininities and masculinities have suffered for many years. This has its counterpart in the media and also in the justice system.
There are two people in pretrial detention, and the lines of investigation point in that direction. Is there any hypothesis that includes transphobia? "Now the important thing is to find it," seems to be the answer. Justice with a gender perspective, transfeminist justice, is also a debt. And justice is not just about the people who administer it.
The media rarely reports on this anymore. Nor on the national bill for transvestite and transgender labor inclusion awaiting consideration in Congress . Nor, for the most part, did they report on the peak of violence suffered by transvestite and trans people in April . There were two transfemicides in Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. Micaela Catán (28) died after dying with half her body burned . Testimonies accuse her partner. Victoria Nieva (33) was murdered in her home , and the prime suspect is her ex. 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 biased, not widely visible and condemned? We need media that treat all people fairly. Because, as the IACHR says, biased violence thrives on social complicity.
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