The tragic reality of being a trans woman in Latin America

This article does not reflect the opinions of the FeminUN student group, but of their respective authors.

It is no secret that women experience disadvantages in most areas of everyday life, and social stigmas are so ingrained in our culture that it is not easy to break away from them in order to build a fairer and more humane society. Issues such as discrimination and stereotyping affect all women around the world, but even more so women belonging to the LGBT+ community, as this is a vulnerable social group that is constantly exposed to multiple unjustified criticisms and acts of violence.

Women with non-binary gender identities face situations daily in which they are denigrated, devalued, or even where their physical integrity and mental health are compromised. Transphobia, understood as “aversion to trans realities or trans people” (Fundéu RAE, 2019), is a worrying problem that is still present in our society.

Every year, dozens of cases of harassment, rape and even murder are reported in Colombia. The figures are alarming: between 2020 and 2021 more than 60 trans people were murdered in our country, and the life expectancy of a trans person is only 35 years (Caribe Afirmativo, 2020; El Colombiano, 2021), which shows the imminent vulnerability of these lives in a country like Colombia, full of prejudices that lead to reprehensible acts such as these.

A brief search in the national media is enough to find headlines such as “Being a trans person in Colombia is a death sentence” (El Tiempo, 2021a). In this news item they mention that data from a recent report by the project “Transrespeto versus Transfobia en el Mundo” (Transrespect versus Transphobia in the World) show that four of the five countries with the highest number of trans people murdered per year are located in Latin America, with Brazil at the top of the list (152 people), followed by Mexico (57), the United States (28), Colombia (21) and finally Argentina (12).

A special report by El Tiempo (2021b), entitled “La tormenta de la primavera trans” (The storm of the trans spring), contains several news items and reports on violence against trans people in Colombia. Among the most relevant data, it highlights that “every 13 days a trans person is killed” in our country, after which they mention the story of Luciana Moscoso, a 26-year-old trans woman, who was found dead in her home in the city of Bogotá. This is just one of many cases that occur and are reported year after year.

They also show that as of June 2021, there were 105 cases of bias-based violence in Colombia (including homicides and acts of discrimination). 56 of the victims were transgender women, who also accounted for 100% of femicides against transgender people (15 cases). In contrast, in 2020, 516 cases of bias-based violence were recorded, where 225 of the victims were trans women and 27 of the 77 homicide cases were perpetrated against trans women. Globally, between 2019 and 2020, 350 murders of trans people were recorded, 98% of which were of trans women or trans females, and 82% of which occurred in Central and South America.

And in other countries, the reality is just as overwhelming. The case of Camila Díaz Córdova in El Salvador is another example of the risks that transgender people in different parts of the world face on a permanent basis. Human Rights Watch (2020) reports that Camila emigrated to the United States seeking asylum to escape the violence she faced in her country, but months later she was deported and upon her return to El Salvador was the victim of an attack by three police officers, which resulted in her death. This was the “first time anyone was convicted for the murder of a transgender person” in this country (HRW, 2020, par. 2). Sadly, hate crimes against trans people, and LGBT+ people in general, continue to occur in the Northern Triangle countries of Central America (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala), which have been hindered from seeking asylum in the United States by restrictive policies implemented under the Trump administration.

Such is the seriousness of the issue that the different types of violence against the transgender population have already been classified. The thematic report of the IACHR (2015) “Violence against LGBTI persons in the Americas” highlights that the general trends are:

1. Lack of official reporting and statistics

2. Widespread violence

3. Invisibility of everyday violence

4. High levels of cruelty

5. Invisibility of trans men, bisexual people and intersex people

6. Reprisals for public displays of affection

Furthermore, it provides evidence that LGBT+ people are more prone to violations of basic rights such as their right to life, in terms of extrajudicial killings, lack of documentation in police records, and impunity in most reported cases; their right to personal integrity and to medical care (IACHR, 2015).

This is but a brief account of the full amount of information that can be found in the media on violence against transgender people in Latin America and the world. What is most worrying is that such a limited review of cases and data reveals a tragic reality of this magnitude. It is thus clear that we must continue to advance in the construction of a society that is more open to differences, that embraces diversity and recognizes it as a crucial element of humanity, as something constructive and not as something to be attacked or erased. Gender violence and sexual discrimination reach critical points that threaten the life and integrity of people, and that must be dealt with urgently in order to eradicate this problem as soon as possible.

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Note: all citations have been translated from the original Spanish version by the author.

Written and translated by Ainara Echeverri Avila.

References

Caribe Afirmativo. (2020). Ser trans en Colombia: una carrera contra la muerte. https://caribeafirmativo.lgbt/ser-trans-en-colombia-una-carrera-contra-la-muerte/

CIDH. (2015). Violencia contra personas LGBTI en América. OEA. https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/multimedia/2015/violencia-lgbti/violencia-lgbti.html

El Colombiano. (2021). 35 mujeres trans asesinadas en 2021; la Defensoría pide más protección. https://www.elcolombiano.com/colombia/mujeres-trans-asesinadas-en-colombia-en-2021-IF16205368

El Tiempo. (2021a). Especial ‘Ser una persona trans en Colombia es una sentencia de muerte’. https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/dia-del-orgullo-gay-homicidios-en-colombia-contra-personas-trans-598946

El Tiempo. (2021b). La tormenta de la primavera trans. https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/dia-del-orgullo-gay-violencia-contra-personas-trans-en-colombia-598996

Fundéu RAE. (2019). Diccionario LGTB+: Guía de conceptos de un lenguaje inclusivo. https://www.fundeu.es/noticia/diccionario-lgtb-guia-de-conceptos-de-un-lenguaje-inclusivo

Human Rights Watch (HRW). (2020). “Vivo cada día con miedo”. Violencia y discriminación contra las personas LGBT en El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras y obstáculos al asilo en Estados Unidos. https://www.hrw.org/es/report/2020/10/07/vivo-cada-dia-con-miedo/violencia-y-discriminacion-contra-las-personas-lgbt-en-el