Neither the human rights situation nor the living conditions of LGBTIQ+ people improved in the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic in Paraguay.

No progress was made by the State in guaranteeing the right to life, security, equality and non-discrimination, as well as access to decent work.

On the contrary, verbal, physical and symbolic violence increased, according to the latest report from the Human Rights Coordinator of Paraguay (Codehupy) .

In the section "We are strength, resistance, and community even without a state guaranteeing the rule of law," prepared by Rosa Posa, Lía Benítez Flecha, and Carolina Robledo (from Aireana , a lesbian group), Mariana Sepúlveda (from Panambí , an association of transvestites, transsexuals, and transgender people), Walter Morínigo (from Presencia Joven ), and Erwing Augsten (from the Network Against All Forms of Discrimination ), they identify a stagnation in the recognition of rights. But they also celebrate the progress in social mobilization.

The increase in violence

The Panambi Association received 80 complaints, of which 20 were for violence in prisons, 20 for discrimination based on gender identity, 30 for abuse of authority, and 10 for physical assault in the sex work area.

In August, trans rights activist Yren Rotela received death threats on several occasions . “You’re worthless, you’re going to die,” was one of the phrases she received from the unidentified aggressor.

Aireana's care service, Rohendu, registered 203 complaints between November 2020 and October 2021. The category "dealing with discrimination" received the highest rates.

It highlights contexts related to coming out of the closet; violence, harassment and/or persecution due to sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression.

Economic violence based on gender identity

These forms of violence intensify when they intersect with other forms of discrimination such as social class, race, or HIV status. Between November 2020 and September 2021, the Human Rights and HIV Complaints Center received 46 complaints.

Of the total, 34 were discrimination based on sexual orientation, 7 were cases of sexual orientation, 4 were cases of mistreatment based on gender identity, and 1 was a case of gender-based violence.

It persists in denying discrimination, denying the existence of same-sex couples, and denying gender identity, as well as dissociating sexual orientation and gender identity or expression from other rights.

The current landscape is also marked by unfair dismissals and workplace discrimination . “Denial is a strategy that sustains the advance of anti-rights thinking under the banner of protecting the family. (In the singular, this refers to the cisgender heterosexual nuclear family.) What is being done is to impede the rights of other people,” the report states.

No response to the request for name correction on the ID of trans people

On October 15, Trans Visibility Day in Paraguay, 10 trans people launched the campaign “I Am Real #MyNameMustBeLegal” with the goal of having their personal documents reflect the name with which they identify..

The procedure established by law should not take more than three months. However, five years have passed since activists Mariana Sepúlveda and Yren Rotela began the process of legally changing their names , and they still have not received a favorable ruling.

The Civil Code grants the right to request this change through judicial means, invoking a just cause.

The request to rectify the ten names of Franchesca Yegros, Camila Denis, Kimberly Ayala, Liam Chaparro, Iris Leticia Brítez, Marie Lucía García, Liz Paola Cortaza, Ihara Jacquet, Yren Rotela and Mariana Sepúlveda has not yet received an official response.

Without identity there is no access

In addition to denying them access to health, education, justice, and even housing, the State denies them recognition of their identity.

That same month, the Archdiocesan Pastoral Care Office issued a statement opposing the selection of the general defender, Lorena Segovia, as a candidate for Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The reason was having acknowledged that there are trans children and adolescents in Paraguay.

According to the organization, Segovia openly expressed during the public hearing a "promotion of an ideology that threatens human dignity."

Women prisoners without a sentence

Regarding the prison situation, most trans people are imprisoned without a conviction , but this situation also extends to the rest of the prison population: 71.7% of people deprived of liberty in Paraguay have not been convicted.

Trans women are held in men's prisons and are victims of attacks, assaults and discrimination , mainly by prison guards.

Resolution No. 302 of the Ministry of Justice, dated April 30 of last year, expands a daily use form format in penitentiary establishments.

In it they request the incorporation of two columns called “LGBTIQ+ and DISABLED”, as data that should be included in the daily report. 

The denied existence

Lawyer and feminist activist Mirta Moragas told Presentes : “There is an overrepresentation of LGBT people in prison. Since last year, the daily prison report has included an LGBT classification. No one acknowledges our existence, but in prison , for example, we are recognized. The daily prison report distinguishes between foreigners and indigenous people, and now includes an LGBT category.”

Last week, Aireana signed an agreement with the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture with the aim of continuing to work for the defense of human rights and to continue working for the rights of women deprived of their liberty, and their right to access intimate visits.

also agreed to promote actions aimed at removing discrimination based on sexual orientation towards people, such as the so-called "conversion therapies", forms of torture that continue to operate in the national territory.

Discrimination and hate continue to kill trans people

The young trans woman, Gabriela Cabrera, 23, died under circumstances that the Paraguayan Justice system has yet to clarify.

The first hypothesis put forward by the forensic doctor was that it was a suicide, but a month after his lifeless body was found, the autopsy results were not released.

The prosecutor's office ordered the arrest of her partner, Reinaldo Manuel Fernández González, who was found embracing her body. He gave a statement but was detained for less than six hours.

The prosecutor in charge said that they did not arrest him because "there was not enough evidence to do so." 

Days before her death, on Sunday the 7th, she was brutally beaten by a group of people. So far, neither the forensic experts nor the prosecutor's office have been able to determine the cause of death, nor have they identified the attackers, but at least an investigation is underway.

Her colleagues at Casa Diversa are demanding a thorough investigation by the Prosecutor's Office and that justice be served. To date, 62 transgender people have been murdered in Paraguay during its democratic transition.

Police officers: first ring of violence against sex workers

Instead of protecting sex workers, police officers prevent them from working or extort them for sex or money.

Although sex work is a legal activity (it is neither prohibited nor expressly regulated by law), it is constantly subject to discrimination, stigmatization, and violence. This makes it easier for sex workers to be affected by various forms of violence, including from police officers who monitor their workplaces. 

The media also contributed with symbolic violence through the publication of their names and professions.

Sex workers report not having access to government social programs during the health emergency , as well as the lack of investigation into the murders of sex workers, mainly in border areas.

Hate speech and anti-rights groups are on the rise

Under the slogan "Let's build the civilization of love," on Saturday, September 25, groups of anti-rights families marched in the "Walk for Life and Family" in downtown Asunción.

Their objective, they say, was to draw the attention of the authorities who intend to introduce abortion and sex education from a gender perspective into Paraguayan legislation, which they call "the culture of death".

The march was led by the Archbishop of Asunción, Monsignor Edmundo Valenzuela, the same man who maintains that the LGBT movement is an “aggression of ideologies that seek to destroy the nature of men and women .” He is also the same man who tried to silence student Belén Whittinsglow .

The same man who asked Alexa Torres not to "make a mountain out of a molehill," to prevent her from making public the harassment she received from the priest Silvestre Olmedo.

In Encarnación, the anti-rights group known as the "National Movement We Are Many, Many More" promoted an agreement with candidates for mayor of that city. This agreement aimed to create a "Life and Family" Directorate within the municipality.

These actions are carried out with the intention of preventing the protection of rights for LGBTI people.

The constant struggle against LGBTI rights

Under the slogan "life and family", the rights to free expression and mobilization were violated in the context of the marches for TLGBI rights in the capital of the Itapúa department.

In that same city, in May, fundamentalist groups reported to the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) the circulation among high school students of a survey conducted in the context of the pandemic.

The survey included the option to select, within the "gender identity" field, the following choices: trans woman, trans man, or non-binary. Within hours, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) distanced itself from the survey through a public statement signed by the Minister of Education, Juan Manuel Brunetti , reaffirming its stance "for life and family."

The violent role of the Church

In September, the evangelical pastor José Duarte, who calls himself "the prophet of Lambaré," accused the neighbors who protested against noise pollution in front of the evangelical church "Army of Revival of the Kingdom of God" of being homosexuals and threatened to kill them .

Following complaints on social media, videos were released showing Duarte officiating alleged expulsions of "evil spirits" and using children to lend credibility to his practices.

Authoritarianism penetrated different levels of society and the State, as well as the concentration of political and economic power in the Honor Colorado movement, one of the factions of the ANR, the ruling party.

Added to this is the insistence on declaring cities as "pro-life and pro-family", which gained more strength and power after the last municipal elections.