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Camila Bolocco, a 43-year-old Chilean trans activist, was found dead in her apartment in the Juárez neighborhood of Mexico City. Activists in Mexico and Chile denounced the transfemicide. They demanded that authorities investigate and adhere to gender-sensitive justice protocols. They also condemned the dissemination of unverified information about the details of her death.

“On the morning of June 6, we were notified that something had happened to our fellow activist. The Existimos team and I traveled to Mexico City. To our shock, we found the police at her apartment, and at the same time, we learned that they had discovered her body. We went to the Prosecutor's Office to file a report for femicide so that it would be recognized as such,” Ferrán Baños, president of Existimos , a trans collective based in Pachuca, Hidalgo, of which Camila Bolocco was a member, Presentes

Ferrán adds that when they filed the complaint and demanded an investigation with a gender perspective, they were treated respectfully and that the Prosecutor's Office staff stated that the crime against Camila Bolocco "will be investigated as a femicide."

How to investigate

Although transfeminicide is not a crime in Mexico City, the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Investigation of the Crime of Femicide has the country's first transfeminicide investigation unit, where they investigate cases of violent deaths of trans women, whether or not they have legally changed their gender identity. 

Presentes sought out the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Femicides in order to learn firsthand the approach they will take to the investigation; however, after waiting for the time they set to meet with us, we were unable to establish communication.

In 2021, the organization Letra Ese recorded that 73 LGBTI people were murdered because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Their report highlights, in particular, that 55 trans women were victims of violent deaths, representing 70.5% of the total.

“We demand justice and respect for his memory.”

Existimos collective also condemned the dissemination of unverified information about Camila Boccolo's condition on the day she was found dead in her apartment.

“We are in contact with the Prosecutor's Office, we have firsthand information, but we are not going to violate her memory, nor are we going to obstruct the process. We only ask for justice for the transfeminicide of our colleague and respect for her memory. And we condemn those who have used her name for likes and the media outlets that are repeating the details they have speculated about, which are deeply hurting her family and friends,” Ferrán emphasizes.

In a phone call, Jony Cuevas, a hairdresser and friend of Camila Bolocco for 17 years, tells Presentes that Camila's friends and activists in Chile are raising their voices "so that the media will listen to us and not distort her memory."

“He migrated in search of better opportunities”

“Camila was a very kind person, a strong, sociable woman. They called her Bolocco after Cecilia Bolocco, the Chilean Miss Universe of 1987. They knew her that way because she was a wonderful, glamorous woman, because of her poise. Camila left a mark wherever she went, not because she was trans, but because of her elegance in everything,” says Jony Cuevas. 

The activist was originally from Concepción and at 22 years old moved to the Chilean capital, Santiago, where she joined the Amanda Jofré Chilean Corporation of Trans People, an organization dedicated to the defense of the human rights of trans women and sex workers. 

Camila, says Jony Cuevas, “besides being an activist, she was an escort, and making a living from that became very difficult during the pandemic. Everything slowed down, everything closed, and the police were terrible. She told me, ‘ Hey, I’m going to Mexico .’ She wanted to do activism there, and also work, of course, because things were bad here, very bad. So she clearly migrated in search of better opportunities, you know?”

Consequences of the pandemic

Andrea Soto, president of the Chilean Corporation of Trans People, Amanda Jofré, highlights the situation in an article published by UN Chile, stating that “before the pandemic, the situation was already bad because with the social uprising of 2019, sex workers were left unable to access the areas of the city where sex work is practiced. When the pandemic arrived, the situation was already critical.”

In February 2021, Camila traveled to Mexico. Upon arrival, she participated in a reality show but quit shortly after. “They weren’t paying her, she needed money, so she left to work. And from there, things took off for her; she traveled to several Mexican states,” Jony recounts.

Camila participated on March 31st in the first trans visibility festival in Pachuca, Hidalgo, organized by Existimos, a collective she was part of. That was her first participation as an activist in Mexico. 

In a TikTok video “It is very important that trans women organize ourselves, that we make ourselves visible. We are not dangerous women, we are not dangerous people, we are in danger. It is important that we unite, that we have support networks, and that we make our violated rights visible and demand change .

“Camila deserves a dignified farewell surrounded by her family and friends.” 

The Existimos collective continues to collaborate with the authorities to advance the investigation, while also providing support to Camila Bolocco's family to achieve her repatriation. 

According to the statutes of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs , only a direct relative who proves kinship (spouses, mother, father, children, siblings, uncles and nephews) can request the repatriation service of a Chilean person who died abroad.

“Camila’s family is in a vulnerable situation and unable to travel to our country, which is why, through our activism, we are working to coordinate between the consulates and the family. Camila deserves a dignified farewell surrounded by her family and friends,” concludes Ferrán Baños.

“In Chile, nothing is done until we have her here, her body, her ashes, but her. We are waiting for the repatriation; we want to pay tribute to her because she deserves it, because there are many people here in Santiago who love her, we love her very much.”