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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. On December 14, Ximena Madrid Flores, a 28-year-old trans woman who had been missing for two days, was found dead. Her body showed signs of violence. Media outlets that reported the news said she was found near the Pyramid of the Moon in the Teotihuacán Archaeological Zone, a tourist site located in the State of Mexico. Ximena had been reported missing two days earlier. Her family and friends are demanding justice.

“I stand firm, I accept, and I raise my voice. In memory of the daughter, the sister, the friend, the neighbor, the badass. This is just the beginning… Let's raise our voices! Let the exposure of incompetent authorities begin, because 'our justice system' is a mess, we're worthless to them as a people. They won't silence us, because when there's love, unity, and balls, great things can be achieved. Teotihuacán is not safe,” wrote Freddy Madrid Flores, Ximena's brother, on social media.

also denounced the Attorney General's Office's "incompetence" in the search for her sister and announced: "Homicide, femicide, and disappearance prosecutor's office, I'm going all out. I'm not going to win with money, I'm going to win with justice."

Ximena was found on December 14 by her brother and friends.

“This afternoon, after an arduous search, we finally found you, Ximena. Your pain, your fear, your anguish were felt when we saw you there at the end of your earthly life. Family and friends, we never gave up. Thank you, Ximena, thank you, Chuchet, thank you for all the joy, we will always remember you,” wrote the day they found her.

Her brother Freddy, her family, friends and the community of San Juan de Aragón, where Ximena was from, demand justice.

“Ximena was very loved and well-known”

Ximena was originally from the town of San Juan de Aragón, located east of Mexico City and bordering the State of Mexico.

Ximena was affectionately known as "Chuchet," and her favorite flower was the sunflower. She was a "carnival fan"; she was part of the dance groups for her town's carnival and was also crowned queen.

“Ximena was a well-known and beloved trans woman, and her visibility helped her activism and awareness. She, along with her brother, was deeply loved by her community,” Josseline Aguilar, founder of Orgullo Ecatepec Presentes .

The search

The search report for Ximena Madrid Flores was issued on December 12 by the Edomex Commission for the Search for Persons (COBUPEM) . Her family provided information that she was last seen that day near the Teotihuacan Archaeological Site. The report also indicated that Ximena was a trans woman.

Freddy Madrid denounced in a video that authorities hadn't helped search for his sister. Early on the morning of December 14, in another video during the search, he commented: "We're here, yelling at my sister. How helpless (…) Ximena! (…) I invite you to help us search for her. It's awful here, very dark."

Local and national media reported the incident, detailing that Ximena was found on December 14 "lifeless and tied to a tree" near the Pyramid of the Moon within the Teotihuacán Archaeological Zone.

Furthermore, several media outlets claim that authorities are "investigating from a gender perspective ," even stating that "one line of investigation could be transfemicide ." However, Presentes was unable to confirm this information.

"The Prosecutor's Office lacks specialized experts with a gender and sexual diversity perspective."

“The State Attorney General's Office of Mexico lacks specialized experts with a gender and sexual diversity perspective. There are no ways for hate crimes to be classified as either femicides or transfemicides, and this speaks to a structural violence in which the State's message toward the lives of trans women is that they are worthless. The State is failing to guarantee the right to life of trans people,” denounces Josseline Aguilar.

On Thursday, December 15th and Friday, December 16th, Presentes attempted to contact authorities in the municipalities of San Martín de las Pirámides, San Juan Teotihuacán, and the specialized prosecutor's office for femicides of the Attorney General's Office of the State of Mexico (FGJEM), Ecatepec, and Texcoco. On several occasions, they left us waiting on phone calls. On other occasions, they claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.

We contacted these municipalities because the territory comprising the Teotihuacán Archaeological Zone is divided among them. We also contacted the specialized prosecutor's offices for femicides of the FGJEM, Ecatepec, and Texcoco because the media reports that reported the incident indicated these prosecutor's offices as the ones in charge of conducting the investigation.

Neither the FGJEM nor the Regional Prosecutor's Office of Texcoco and Ecatepec have issued press releases about this crime on their communication channels.

“The State of Mexico is not safe for trans women.”

“Violence and hate crimes in the State of Mexico have always been a constant. Now, with the work of activists, the demand for justice has become more evident, but it is also influenced by the context of widespread violence we are experiencing, and it is much worse. The State of Mexico is not safe for trans women,” explains activist Josseline Aguilar.

According to the Observatory of Hate Crimes against LGBT+ People in Mexico , 67 violent deaths due to prejudice have been reported from January to date. Seven of these occurred in the State of Mexico, and four involved trans women.

Furthermore, according to the latest report by Letra S , the State of Mexico was the third entity in the country with the most hate crimes against LGBT+ people and was where the highest number of activists who were victims of transfemicide were reported.

Josseline Aguilar adds that violence against trans people in this state also comes from trans-exclusionary feminist groups. 

“Violence is reinforced by hate speech from TERF feminists . And we're seeing that hate on social media, at conferences, and it translates into the social realm, into what we experience every day. Even recently, TERF groups have targeted our colleague Ximena using her birth name, downplaying the incident. That's revictimization and a type of violence,” Aguilar adds.

Flowers, music, and carnival to bid farewell to Ximena

On Saturday, December 17, family, friends, and people from the town of San Juan de Aragón gathered to say goodbye to Ximena with flowers, music, and a carnival.

Ximena's wake was awaited with live music and floral arrangements of all sizes. A tres leches cake decorated with strawberries, beer, photographs of her, a tiara, and candles were placed on her coffin.

After the funeral mass, the customary protocols of the town of San Juan de Aragón were followed with a carnival in his honor.

Hundreds of people walked along Allende Street, behind the coffin, to the cemetery where he was laid to rest. Along the way, there was a marching band and groups performing the huehuenche dance, a dance composed of various characters in which the dancers wear masks to interpret them.

“These are the people you were able to bring together, for your charisma, for everything you did. It's a great goodbye for the way you won people over, for your personality, for your smile. The most important thing is that we all have fond memories,” said Joshua Ramos, a member of the town of San Juan de Aragón, during a live broadcast .

In several social media broadcasts of the carnival in honor of Ximena, people shout cheers for her and chant: “Not one more, not one more murdered,” “We love you, Ximena,” “Justice.”