Transphobia is on the rise at Mexico City's Cinemex chain.
The Mexican movie theater chain is being held accountable for discriminating against a trans person.
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The enemy isn't just anyone. And with that certainty, that of someone who knows they're going to win, they tried to take away Paulette Slava Cárdenas Vergara's right to identity, challenging her: "Well, go and report it," said the manager, who decided, on behalf of the company, that her existence violated the mall's rules. And they fired her.
Paulette Slava was attending the Cinemex movie theater located in Plaza Reforma 222, near the now-defunct Glorieta de la Palma, and paradoxically one of the meeting points where the annual LGBTTTIQ+ rights march in Mexico City begins. She was leaving a movie, but when she tried to use the restroom, she was blocked by workers who asked her to leave, all the while addressing her as "he." After several minutes of discussion, the manager ended the threat.
The complaint
In response, Paulette decided to file the appropriate complaints and take her case to the final conclusion. This led her to the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (CPED) issuing a statement against Cinemex on April 27, 2022, for the blatant violations of the law committed by its employees.
This document, numbered 4309420 and in the hands of PODER, describes how the activist demands that the authorities take action on the matter.
The CPED document is addressed to Operadora de Cinemas SA de CV, along with its parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and companies controlled by Grupo Cinemex. It explains how several company employees aggressively removed Paulette, arguing that "he was a gentleman" and that "that was not his bathroom."
PODER exclusively that, despite feeling humiliated and heartbroken, she decided to file a complaint with the plaza's security unit.
The incident didn't end there. After the conflict, the official Cinemex account published a notification in which, according to the interviewee, defamatory acts were being carried out, accusing Paulette of exposing herself nude in the bathroom. Consequently, América Rangel, a representative from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), republished the same information without giving the victim the right to reply or presenting evidence to refute the accusations.
Who is Cinemex? And who or what millionaires are behind it?
The Grupo Cinemex corporation is part of the Grupo México partnership. It is the company of millionaire German Larrea Mota Velazco, who currently appears as a Board Member and Executive Chairman in the most recent annual report of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). He is also a shareholder in 88 other companies across the country. Although its main activity is mining, the company that owns Cinemex is .
This is not the first case of human rights violations for which Grupo México has been accused. On August 6, 2014, Mexico suffered an environmental disaster due to a mining spill owned by this company. Studies revealed flaws in the facilities of the Buenavista del Cobre mine, owned by Grupo México, in Cananea, Sonora, which extracts copper and molybdenum. This caused the spill of 40,000 m3 of acidulated copper sulfate (CuSO4) leachate into the Tinajas Stream, flowing from the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers to the Molinito dam, which supplies water to the city of Hermosillo . To date, the affected communities continue to demand reparation for the damage.
Permanent contempt
In the same way of operating, the Larrea company ignored federal government orders to manage health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Desiderio Villegas, a former mine worker and peasant leader, says that his cousins Germán Larrea Mota Velasco, owner of Grupo México, and José Antonio Rivero Larrea, engage in very similar bad practices. Rivero Larrea's Minera Autlán dumps chemicals into a stream in the Río Claro in Hidalgo, which originates in the Atezca lagoon and passes through Tlaxinca, Ixcatlán, and Cuxhuacán in Molango; and in Tamala, San Simón, and Acuimantla in Tepehuacán. This same company is accused of carrying out what community members call "conflict engineering .
In 2007, Grupo México announced a major investment—through its subsidiary, Southern Copper Corporation—to extract copper from Tía María, one of the most important agricultural areas in Arequipa, Peru. Farmers rejected the project and began an indefinite strike. Over an eight-year period, there were violent clashes, four deaths, and more than 20 gunshot wounds.
Finally, in 2006, 65 workers were trapped in Pasta de Conchos by an explosion caused by a buildup of methane gas. The mine, operated by Grupo México, had been reported to have safety lapses since 2000. The company suspended the rescue effort a year later, and the bodies remain buried .
The paradox of those who want to sell at any cost
The official website of the cinema chain (and subsidiary of the mining company) states in its workplace policy that respect is one of the pillars of the corporation: “We treat people with dignity, cordiality, and tolerance. We always recognize the rights, freedoms, and qualities inherent to the human condition and its dignity. We communicate clearly and with reason, always in a tone of respect for others. We speak positively about people, avoiding any type of offensive or derogatory comments, without distinction based on individual characteristics or hierarchical level .” Evidently, this was not the case with Paulette.
And although these terms are not binding—meaning there are no regulations with clear conditions for workers who fail to comply with this model—discrimination based on gender identity is a crime in Mexico.
According to the Federal Penal Code , Title Three, which mentions crimes against human dignity, it is stipulated that such act (discrimination) carries a penalty of “one to three years in prison or one hundred and fifty to three hundred days of community service and up to two hundred days of fine for anyone who, for reasons of ethnic or national origin or belonging, race, skin color, language, gender, sex, sexual preference, age, marital status, national or social origin, social or economic condition, health condition, pregnancy, political opinions or any other type, violates human dignity.”
Thus, Paullete insists in an interview that he will exhaust all possible institutions in order to enforce the law.
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