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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. So far in 2024, eight transgender women have been murdered in Mexico City. Most of the victims were sex workers or lived in precarious conditions. Only two cases have resulted in arrests for femicide.

According to records kept by the National Trans Non-Binary Assembly, 28 trans women have been murdered in Mexico so far this year. The majority of these cases have been recorded in the capital, with eight victims: Samantha Fonseca, Debaly Vilchis, Vanessa, Debanny, Alondra, and three others whose names are unknown. To date, their bodies have not been claimed.

The Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Investigation of Femicide has a Transfemicide Investigation Subunit , the only one of its kind in the country. However, activists and relatives of victims denounce the lack of progress in the investigations and, above all, the prevailing impunity.

This year, the National Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation have mandated that the country's legislatures pass laws to ensure that the violent deaths of trans women are investigated and punished as femicide . Only the state of Nayarit currently criminalizes transfemicide.

On June 12, during a protest against these transfeminicides, activist Victoria Sámano, founder of Lleca, listening to the street , demanded that there also be public policies that consider trans women who, due to family exclusion, do not have access to their human rights such as identity, education, work, health, housing, which places them in situations of greater vulnerability throughout their lives.

Increased violence in Mexico City

So far this year, 28 trans women have been murdered in Mexico, and it is in the country's capital where most of the cases have been registered with 8 victims.

Mexico City is not the state in the country with the highest number of trans femicides. Each year, the highest number of these crimes are detected in Veracruz or Chihuahua, according to annual reports by the organization Letra S on hate crimes against LGBT+ people .

Human rights defender and sex worker Natalia Lane, a survivor of an attempted femicide, believes that “it’s not that there’s an increase in femicides of trans women; the city center plays a significant role. There are more reporter networks covering this, and social media is more active about what’s happening in the city than in other states, but unfortunately, and it’s horrifying to say, those who continue to be murdered are fellow sex workers and those in vulnerable situations.”

She also mentioned that “Mexico City, where there is greater progress in human rights, does not guarantee that trans women live a life free from violence. Policies to prevent violence and restorative justice are necessary.”

In the cases of Samantha and Debaly, there are detainees for femicide.

Samantha Fonseca was a 37-year-old trans woman who dedicated herself to human rights advocacy. This year she was running for a seat in the Senate . She was murdered in the early hours of January 14th in Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City.

In March, Juan 'N' was arrested and charged as Samantha's main attacker. According to a report by David Fuentes of El Universal , in May another man, José 'N', was arrested for allegedly helping the attacker escape.

A month later, on February 15, Debaly Vilchis was murdered; she was 30 years old. Debaly, known as 'La Pepona,' was shot while at a business. She remained hospitalized until she died from her injuries.

On June 10, the Secretariat of Citizen Security of Mexico City reported the arrest for the crime of femicide of the alleged aggressor, a 27-year-old man.

“Vanessa’s dream was to be a mother”

Vanessa was going to turn 34 in April. But on February 21, her lifeless body was found on a soccer field in Iztapalapa, in the eastern part of the city. She was murdered with a firearm. The Prosecutor's Office opened a case for the crime of femicide, but her family reports that there has been no progress in the investigation since then. 

“We are desperate because someone is responsible for this, but the investigations aren't progressing, and all we ask for is justice for Vanessa. She dreamed of being a mother. All we ask for is justice; nothing and no one will bring back her joy, her love for life,” the woman's sister said in an interview.

“Those who continue to be murdered are fellow sex workers and those in vulnerable situations.”

Debanny García, 41, worked as a sex worker in Tlalpan and was murdered on February 27. According to an article published in La Jornada by reporter Laura Gomez, her murder was “the result of extortion.” In other words, a form of extortion in which sex workers are forced to pay in order to work.

A friend of Debanny told Presentes that there has been no progress in the investigation. She is demanding that the authorities consider the crime to be femicide, not just assault as it was initially classified.

Alondra was 27 years old when she was murdered in her home on May 27, along with two other men. According to press reports, the incident occurred in the early morning hours, and neighbors alerted authorities after hearing gunshots. 

The Ministry of Security reported that a 49-year-old man was arrested the day after the incident as the likely perpetrator of the multiple homicides. The statement did not mention that one of the victims was a transgender woman.

Regarding the three cases of trans women whose names are unknown, it is only known from press reports that they engaged in sex work, one of them lived on the streets, and all were victims of sexual violence and torture.