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A year has passed since the murder of Ociel Baena , a judge of the Electoral Court of Aguascalientes, and Dorian Herrera, his partner. On November 13, 2023, the couple was found dead in their home in the city of Aguascalientes. The Attorney General's Office at the time stated that it was "a personal matter ," a narrative supported by the state government. A year later, this crime remains unpunished. The justice system has neither changed its narrative nor provided any new information about the case.

Presentes contacted the communications department of the Aguascalientes Prosecutor's Office, but the Prosecutor's Office stopped responding once the reason for the call was explained.

In November 2023, the Prosecutor's Office's swift dismissal of the case, claiming it was a personal matter, sparked outrage. The slogan " crime of passion, national lie " became popular. In more than 30 cities across the country, LGBTQ+ activists and individuals mobilized, demanding an investigation with a gender and sexual diversity perspective, and that the constant threats and hate speech Baena received on social media be taken into account.

The Prosecutor's Office is withholding information about the crime 

In February and June of 2024, the Transparency Committee of the Attorney General's Office of Aguascalientes ordered that the investigation into the murder of Ociel Baena be "confidential" for five years. This resolution can be read at this link .

That document, dated July 1, 2024—seven months after the magistrate's murder—states, “The investigation file is currently in the initial phase and is therefore under investigation.” It adds, “Due to the nature of the case, the investigation has uncovered circumstances that pertain entirely to the private lives of the parties involved, making it necessary to protect their right to privacy.”.

The Prosecutor's Office also states in that report that Baena's family expressly requested that the investigation file "not be made public or subject to media scrutiny." Journalist Javier Risco interviewed Baena's father in February 2024, and in his article published in El País , Mr. Baena states that no such agreement with the Prosecutor's Office existed.

In August 2024, Ociel Baena's father told the news outlet Milenio that the family was "emotionally exhausted" and rejected the Attorney General's version of events, which failed to open new lines of investigation that took into account his son's gender identity and the constant threats he received. He also commented that, fearing reprisals, they no longer sought to "fight with the Attorney General's Office."

The Aguascalientes Attorney General's Office considers the murders of Ociel Baena and Dorian Herrera to be a crime of passion. A year later, the Justice Department has not released any new information or updates on the investigation. This narrative has also been echoed and disseminated by the media. 

of the Federal Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information states that investigations carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office cannot be classified as "reserved" when "it deals with information that is related to serious violations of human rights or crimes against humanity."

The organization Letra S has documented that the Mexican press has been labeling violent deaths of LGBT people as "crimes of passion" for at least five decades. In their 2022 report , they recorded a case that was categorized under this label without legal basis as part of the investigation.

“It is a state crime because it was a persecution of the unestablished.”

“The crime against my sibling Ociel is, as I’ve said before, a state crime because they lived under threat, just like me, from a tremendous wave of hate speech. It’s a state crime because it was a persecution of the non-establishment, of what makes people uncomfortable. And the local authorities are clinging to the idea that it was a ‘crime of passion’ without investigating those threats or considering my sibling’s non-binary identity,” said Salma Luévano, National Coordinator of Inclusive Economy at the Ministry of Economy and former federal deputy, in an interview.

In November 2023, Luévano submitted a letter requesting that the Attorney General's Office take over the case due to the lack of a gender and sexual diversity perspective in the Aguascalientes Prosecutor's Office.

“The Attorney General’s Office told me that the only people who can request this are Ociel’s family, and we have to respect that, as well as the family’s wish to remain uninvolved. Taking this matter to the federal level is necessary because there is no clarity or progress in the investigation, and mechanisms are needed to order investigations that take into account gender identity, but also threats and hate speech like what my sister unfortunately experienced,” Salma Luévano stated.

Who were Ociel Baena and Dorian Herrera? 

Ociel Baena was the first non-binary person to hold a public office in the judiciary, serving as an electoral magistrate in the state of Aguascalientes. They also organized the first National Congress on Strategic Litigation for the Defense of the Rainbow Quota in Mexico.

Baena filed lawsuits on her own behalf to have her gender identity recognized on her identification documents. One of these legal actions served as a precedent for the National Electoral Institute (INE) to issue voter ID cards today that recognize non-binary identity (with some exceptions).

Dorian Herrera was originally from Aguascalientes. According to published reports, he was a lawyer and participated in modeling competitions.

The legacy

“The absence of Ociel Baena has been felt since the first moment this terrible event occurred. But his legacy remains, his great love, and his fight for rainbow quotas. "It's a door we opened, and it needs to be opened wider and wider," Luévano adds.

Ociel Baena and Salma Luévano are the driving forces behind the "rainbow quotas" in Mexico. These are affirmative action measures that seek to secure political representation for LGBTI+ people. They were first implemented in the 2021 elections through the National Electoral Institute to guarantee the participation of LGBTI+ candidates in political parties running for the Chamber of Deputies.

Recently, two deputies in Aguascalientes presented an initiative that seeks to declare November 13 as the “Day Against Discrimination and Violence Against Non-Binary People” in honor of Baena in order to raise awareness about violence and create public policies to combat discrimination against this population.

Furthermore, in Coahuila, Baena's home state, her family and the San Aelredo organization presented an initiative to the local Congress seeking to establish November 13 as the "State Day of Non-Binary People," whose objective is to honor the memory of the magistrate and reflect on the violence against non-binary people.