Oaxaca: A muxe was murdered and an indigenous trans woman was brutally attacked
Marimar Santiago, a Muxe teacher, was murdered on August 27. On the same day, David, a trans woman of Mixtec origin, survived an attempted transfemicide.
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Marimar Santiago, a Muxe teacher, was murdered in the municipality of Salina Cruz on August 27. 400 kilometers away, on the same day, David López, a trans woman of Mixtec origin, was the victim of an attempted transfemicide in San Pedro Jicayán. LGBT+ activists in Oaxaca are demanding justice and investigations with a gender perspective.
According to various local media outlets, on the morning of August 27, after calls to 911, Marimar Santiago was found dead on a dirt road. Her body had a gunshot wound.
David, a Mixtec trans woman, was beaten, strangled, and had her tongue nearly cut out. Due to the aftereffects of the attack, she cannot move her neck or swallow solid food. She accuses Gildardo Martínez López, son of the former mayor of San Pedro Jicayán, of being her attacker.
Violence against trans and muxes in Oaxaca
The Oaxaca State Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (DDHPO) condemned both incidents and called on authorities to "guarantee full access to justice and prevent impunity." According to their figures, 26 cases of discrimination against transgender people have been opened since 2020. Three of these cases involve murders.
At the time of writing, the Oaxaca State Attorney General's Office has not released any information regarding these acts of violence against LGBT+ people.
“In these cases, there has been brutal violence. While we experience widespread violence in Oaxaca, gender-based violence is also affecting trans and muxe people. But in no case is there justice ,” says Sofía Guandulain, a human rights defender and director of TransDifusión, a trans organization in Oaxaca.
And she asks: “What more has to happen, what do we have to do so that, above all, the authorities, who should be most aware of protecting us, do their job, so that there is justice and every hate crime and attempted murder does not go unpunished? No more, we will not be silent and we will raise our voices from our trenches.”
“There is no muxe paradise in the Isthmus”
Marimar Santiago, originally from San Pedro Huilotepec, was a muxe . She was called Estrellita and worked as a teacher at a primary school in the coastal municipality of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.
Muxe and LGBT+ activists in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec condemned Marimar's murder as a "homophobic hate crime ." They demanded an urgent meeting with the head of the Oaxaca Attorney General's Office, Arturo Peimberg, to ensure "clarification and punishment of those responsible."
The murder of Marimar Santiago adds to the 26 other hate crimes against Muxe and LGBT+ people in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region since 2020 that remain unpunished. This figure, compiled through community-based record-keeping due to the lack of official statistics, comes from the work of community-based data collection.
Marimar was buried in her community. Friends, activists, and neighbors from Huilotepec attended her funeral. On social media, people who knew her expressed outrage and demanded justice.
“There is no 'muxe' paradise in the Isthmus. They continue to kill us for being who we are. For dedicating ourselves to pursuing our dreams, dressed as women. For doing what we love most, without betraying our nature. Geovana, Sherlyn, Oscar Cazorla , Marimar, and all those who have been murdered, without anyone being found guilty,” Amurabi Mendez, a friend of Marimar and cultural promoter in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec posted
“They tried to kill me. I just want justice.”
David López, 27, is of Mixtec origin and works as a homemaker. In a live broadcast with reporter Carlos Martínez from the news outlet Centro Informativo Oaxaca, he said, “They tried to kill me, they beat me very badly, they cut out my tongue. I just want justice and for this not to go unpunished.” In the video, he names Gildardo Martínez, son of the former mayor of San Pedro Jicayán, as his attacker.
Presentes spoke with a friend of David's, who requested anonymity for her safety. She recounted the story David told her: at one in the morning on Saturday, August 27, David was on the side of the road, drinking beer with another woman when suddenly the sons of the former mayor of Jicayán, Gilberto and Gildardo Martínez López, approached them.
“David says that suddenly Gildardo started hitting him/her on the head out of nowhere, and on the ground he squeezed his neck with his hands. David is very sad and scared. He has very ugly bruises on his neck and in fact he can't even swallow or drink anything,” his friend says.
David's most urgent need is healthcare. Visits to the nearest hospital are costing him 200 pesos in transportation. Because of his vulnerable situation, the care he can access is not of the best quality.
When we spoke to his friend on Saturday, September 3, David was still bleeding from his tongue, couldn't move his neck, and had severe pain in his body, neck, and head.
The municipality of Jicayán is not taking action
David first filed a complaint with the municipal agency of San Pedro Jicayán. There, Agustina González Nicolas, the municipal trustee, proposed that they “reach a financial agreement” instead of offering David medical attention and bringing the aggressor to justice.
David's friend told Presentes that they did not reach any agreement because his aggressor only offered to pay 6,000 pesos, an amount that does not cover what David has spent on transportation, painkillers and medical visits.
After filing a report in his town, David says he fears for his life because his attacker is the son of the former mayor of San Pedro Jicayán. Gildardo Martínez López's whereabouts are currently unknown.
David's friend reported that a complaint has already been filed with the Attorney General's Office of the State of Oaxaca.
Municipal governments perpetrate transphobic violence
According to the Oaxaca Human Rights Ombudsman's Office, municipal governments are the entities that most frequently discriminate against transgender people. Sofía Guandulain adds that prejudice and misinformation contribute to the violence perpetrated by institutions against muxe and LGBT people in Oaxaca.
“ The authorities don’t know our needs. They don’t know who LGBT people are, and this happens throughout Oaxaca, but it’s more acute in rural areas ,” says the activist.
In that regard, she recalled the case of Lizeth, a trans woman of Mixtec origin who was arbitrarily detained and tortured by the municipal police of San Juan Colorado last July.
According to information from journalist Diana Manzo, “as punishment for the alleged theft and for being a trans woman, the Municipal Trustee, Agustina Lorenzo, and the municipal police commander, Agustín López, ordered the municipal police officers to dress her in men's clothing and cut her hair.”
Actions for justice
Various muxe and LGBT+ organizations and activists from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region are demanding that the state government intervene in the investigation of each of the hate crimes against muxe and LGBT+ people in Oaxaca.
They also called on the newly elected governor to include them in public policies and asked that "the historical needs of defending our rights be taken into account."
The Human Rights Ombudsman's Office condemned the events and called on authorities to guarantee access to justice and ensure that impunity is not violated. It also opened investigations into possible human rights violations and stressed the urgent need for the victim to receive high-quality, compassionate medical care.
Stop normalizing violence
Furthermore, the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred) called for research with a gender perspective: “It is important to make visible the vulnerability and unequal conditions of people who have been historically discriminated against. It is necessary to stop normalizing violence against Indigenous women and people with non-normative sexual identities.”
Activist Guandulain will seek to meet with Deputy Xóchitl Veázquez Vázquez, president of the permanent commission of vulnerable groups of the Congress of the State of Oaxaca, in order to express the concern that LGBT+ people have for their life and safety, and to work on public policies.
“This meeting is important, and we need to talk about this violence. These aren't isolated incidents; there's a latent, ongoing violence against LGBT people in Oaxaca . At any moment, I could even be next.”
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