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Gina Rodríguez, a 28-year-old trans woman, was stabbed to death on Tuesday, the 21st, in El Callao. The suspect is a man who regularly solicited services from trans sex workers and contacted them—using different names—through social media. According to her colleagues, it wasn't the first time the suspect had contacted Gina: he had already been to her room. Gina was admitted to the intensive care unit of San José Hospital in Callao, where she died 18 hours after being stabbed in the abdomen. On Friday, police arrested a man who goes by the name Ángel Rodríguez, and he is currently being held at the Bocanegra police station.

“He came at six in the morning with the intention of hurting Gina, because he had already come several times; I've seen them entering the hotel multiple times. He knew she lived alone,” Zoe, the first friend to arrive at the hotel and find the scene, told Presentes. Yenith Gonzalez, the hotel receptionist, was the only witness who saw Gina both before and after her murder.

After learning what had happened, LGBT+ activists and collectives took to the streets to demand that the police and the public prosecutor's office investigate the case as a transfemicide. They organized two actions: a sit-in outside the Bocanegra police station, the precinct responsible for gathering information on the case; and a protest in front of the Callao Regional Government building to demand an anti-discrimination ordinance in Peru's main port city.

Gina's friends arrived there, shouting her name accompanied by the slogan: "Neighbor, neighbor, don't be indifferent, trans people are being killed right in front of everyone."

Negligence of the authorities and discrimination

In Peru, the gender identity of transgender people is not recognized, and Gina Rodríguez, like thousands of other transgender men and women, lived without having obtained her National Identity Document (DNI). The police report also failed to respect her gender identity.

"My cousin never wanted to get her ID card because she wanted to get one with her female name. She didn't want one with a male name, that's why she preferred to go around like that," Jackeline Rodríguez, Gina's cousin, told Presentes.

According to Gina's coworkers and friends, they had approached the Peruvian National Police on more than one occasion to report acts of violence against them, but they were always ignored.

“We want justice, because we report these incidents to the authorities and the police, but they don't listen to us, and that's what frustrates and angers us the most. We have families; we are human beings with feelings. Every time we file a report, they just turn their backs on us and file it away. The worst part is that they laugh at us and kick us out,” Angie, Gina's colleague, told Presentes.

A pattern repeats itself

In March 2019, trans activist Claudia Vera , and one of her sisters, as the family representative, began to follow up on the case. However, she was greatly surprised when she realized that the police officer in charge of the investigation was indifferent and uninterested in obtaining the necessary evidence to find the perpetrators of the crime.

Tired of waiting, Claudia's sister went to the hotel where she was shot to request the security camera footage. Some of it had already been erased due to the passage of time. That same morning, she went to find Claudia's coworkers who had witnessed the murder to get their testimonies.

It's not just a matter of coincidence: according to the latest reports from the LGBT Human Rights Observatory of the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University , the National Police is one of the public institutions that most violates the rights of the trans population in Peru.

Gina's family is asking for help

Gina Rodríguez's body was removed from the Callao morgue and taken to her hometown of Pucallpa, where she was buried last Thursday, the 23rd. However, her family is still trying to obtain the corresponding death certificate. Initially, San José Hospital asked them to return the seven units of O+ blood, but ultimately forwarded the document to the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC).

“I would ask the authorities to help me so that this criminal pays for what he did to my cousin, and the case doesn’t end there,” said Jackeline Rodríguez, who is handling all the paperwork.