MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities on Tuesday despatched conflicting messages in regards to the violent demise of a number one LGBTQ+ determine after 1000’s marched Monday night time demanding justice.
Jesús Ociel Baena was discovered lifeless with round 20 wounds subsequent to their accomplice of their residence within the central Mexican metropolis of Aguascalientes on Monday, based on state prosecutors. Baena, the primary overtly nonbinary particular person to imagine a judicial publish in Mexico, was one of the crucial seen LGBTQ+ figures in a rustic the place sexual minorities are sometimes violently focused.
Baena and their accomplice had already acquired demise threats and hateful messages and had safety from state safety, prompting many throughout the nation Monday to name their demise a hate crime.
Authorities have offered minimal particulars in regards to the slaying and native prosecutors hinted it might have been a murder-suicide.
The Aguascalientes prosecutor’s workplace on Tuesday supplied new particulars, saying it appeared that Baena was murdered with razor blades by their accomplice, Dorian Herrera, who then dedicated suicide.
“It may seem like a not very credible hypothesis to many, but we’re being very careful to leave a record and preserve all evidence,” mentioned state prosecutor Jesús Figueroa Ortega. He added that one of many wounds was on Baena‘s jugular, and that they found blood on the bed and bloody footprints leading through the home.
Federal authorities, however, urged caution in the investigation Tuesday. Félix Arturo Medina, an official with Mexico‘s Interior Ministry, said “it’s vital to not throw out any line of investigation”, including that they hoped to coordinate with state authorities to analyze the deaths.
“It’s a relevant case for us, not just because of the activism the magistrate was carrying out,” but in addition as a result of the federal government desires all crimes to be investigated, Medina mentioned.
Impunity runs rampant in Mexico. Only 1% of all crimes dedicated have been reported, investigated and resolved in 2022, based on a survey by National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
The state authorities’ speculation was rapidly rejected by many in Mexico‘s LGBTQ+ community.
Alejandro Brito, director of the LGBTQ+ rights group Letra S urged authorities to continue to investigate the incident and to take into consideration the context of the case, and threats of violence against Baena.
Brito called state prosecutor’s model of occasions “loaded with prejudices” and mentioned fast conclusions made by native authorities have solely deepened mistrust of authorities amongst traditionally victimized communities.
“In these types of homicides they always try to disqualify or belittle,” Brito mentioned. “These statements that the prosecutor is giving, what they’re doing isn’t clarifying the acts, they’re adding fuel to the fire of these prejudices.”
People who knew Baena mentioned the Justice of the Peace and Herrera in current weeks have been chipper and talked passionately about future activism.
Brito was echoed by 1000’s who gathered within the coronary heart of Mexico City lighting candles over pictures of Baena and different victims of anti-LGBTQ+ violence Monday night time. They shouted “Justice” and “We won’t stay silent” and demanded an intensive investigation into the deaths.
“Ociel is, and was, the most relevant figure in today’s fight for human rights for the LGBTQ+ community,” mentioned Humberto Dena, a 24-year-old carrying a candle alongside 1000’s of others within the march. “We want (the authorities) to continue to investigate this case, and not just say it was a ‘crime of passion.’”
In changing into a Justice of the Peace in October 2022, Baena was considered the primary nonbinary particular person in Latin America to imagine a judicial place. Baena broke via one other barrier this May as certainly one of a gaggle of individuals to be issued Mexico’s first passports itemizing the holders as nonbinary.
Baena appeared in frequently printed pictures and movies carrying skirts and heels and toting a rainbow fan in courtroom workplaces and advocated on social media platforms, drawing a whole bunch of 1000’s of followers.
“I am a nonbinary person. I am not interested in being seen as either a woman or a man. This is an identity. It is mine, for me, and nobody else. Baena posted on X, formerly Twitter, in June. “Accept it.”
Last month, the electoral courtroom offered Baena with a certificates recognizing the Justice of the Peace with the gender impartial noun “maestre,” a big step in Spanish, a language that splits most of its phrases between two genders, masculine or female.
While Mexico has made important steps in decreasing anti-LGBTQ+ violence, Brito’s Letra S documented a leap in violence in opposition to sexual minorities in 2019. In that 12 months alone, a minimum of 117 lesbian, homosexual and bisexual and transgender individuals have been slain. Many have been grisly killings, together with brutal stabbings and public slayings.
The National Observatory of Hate Crimes Against LGBTI+ Persons in Mexico registered 305 violent hate crimes in opposition to sexual minorities in 2019-2022, together with homicide, disappearances and extra.
