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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. On Friday, January 20, 32-year-old Paris Beristain Vergara Valerio was murdered while working at her business, the bar “El Paris,” located on the outskirts of the city of Acayucan, in southern Veracruz. This is the second trans femicide recorded in less than a week in Mexico.

The news was announced by Veracruz activist Jazz Bustamante . “The events occurred very close to the sports complex where the victim was well-known to the neighbors. On social media, several of Paris's friends expressed their condolences, affection, and called for justice,” she wrote.

At 5:40 p.m., according to local media , two people on a motorcycle approached the business and shot Paris Beristain. His assailants fled.

In Mexico, five out of ten transgender women are murdered with firearms. This is according to the report "Gender Violence with Firearms in Mexico," prepared by Intersecta and other organizations.

So far, the Veracruz Attorney General's Office has not reported on this incident. Nor has it reported on the transfemicide of Denisse Cabaly , who was murdered on the night of January 17 in the port of Veracruz.

“It’s not easy being trans here.”

Acayucan is a municipality located in southern Veracruz. It is one of the areas with the highest migration flow and a heavy military presence, including members of the National Guard, a militarized police force created by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

In recent weeks, local media have reported that merchants are facing extortion through the collection of fees by drug trafficking groups, and that the governor has downplayed these actions.

This is where Paris Beristain “with effort” maintained his business, a friend of Paris, who for security reasons wishes to remain anonymous, Presentes

“Paris fought hard for her business. I couldn’t tell you if she was threatened, but she fought hard to keep it going. She also fought for herself, because it’s not easy being gay or trans here; it’s so sexist here that it’s hard to be one,” she commented.

In this same city, in August 2019, Miguel Ángel Medina , a young, openly gay man, was disappeared, tortured, and murdered. His murder was of national interest.

The Veracruz Attorney General's Office then announced a man as responsible for the crime, and activists denounced the prosecutor for failing to consider hate as a factor. Since 2018, the Penal Code has included hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity as aggravating circumstances.

“ I wouldn’t say it’s very safe here in Acayucan. Lately, we see a lot more military, the National Guard, and the cartels (it’s a way of referring to people who are part of drug trafficking groups), it’s ‘I’ll get you one way or another.’ And with the way things are, I don’t know if they’re going to catch the ones who did this. Justice almost never comes here,” Paris’s friend added.

Veracruz remains the deadliest state for LGBT+ people

In Veracruz, at least 275 LGBT+ people were murdered in the last decade, according to the registry of hate crimes against LGBT people kept by activist Jazz Bustamente.

"Diagnosis of hate crimes against sexual dissidents in Mexico: a local perspective with national impact" prepared by Bustamante and accessed by this media outlet, 70% of the victims were killed with a firearm and 30% by knife, blows or

Impunity prevails

“In these cases, impunity and revictimization are the most prevalent factors. The Mexican government is resisting doing its job of creating a disaggregated public registry (…) As long as we continue to see a State that doesn't put its institutions to work, the attacks will continue to be, as they have been until now, just another case of impunity,” Jazz Bustamante denounces in her report.

For his part, in the same document, Alejandro Brito, director of the Letra S organization, points out that in contexts of widespread violence, hate crimes against LGBT people “cannot be ignored” by the State.

“In the context of widespread insecurity and violence that has plagued our country for several years now, the violence and murders committed against LGBT people cannot be ignored by the institutions responsible for law enforcement and the administration of justice. The prejudices that prevail regarding sexual and gender diversity, still so deeply rooted in society, have permeated these institutions, which have neglected and dismissed the seriousness of the problem (…) Due to the vulnerability and specific characteristics of LGBT victims, the support of communities and their organizations is fundamental and crucial.”