Agnes Hernandez, Mexican Transgender Activist, Brutally Murdered
Nearly 2000 individuals congregated outside a civic plaza in Puebla, Mexico on Tuesday, demanding justice for slain Mexican transgender activist Agnés Torres Hernández, whose body was found on Friday by neighbors who reported the crime to local police.
Mexican Attorney General is considering the investigation of Torres' murder as a hate crime, according to the newspaper El Universal (in Spanish).
She was last seen on Friday night when she left her home to attend a party in Chipilo, a small town in the state of Puebla. She was found clothed only in underwear, a blouse with suspenders and a brown jacket on Saturday in a ditch outside the city of Puebla. Her throat had been slashed and there were several burn marks across her body.
Torres, a 28 year-old psychologist and educator, is remembered as an activist and ardent defender of human rights in Mexico's LBGT community. She was an important figure in the strive for acceptance for the transgender community in her native country.
News of her death quickly spread on Twitter under the hashtag #AgnesTorres. Family, friends and members of the LGBT community attended her burial in the city of Tehuacán on Tuesday morning.
Torres’ death adds to a series of violent acts against the LGBT community in Puebla that have been happening since January.
“It's the sixth crime this year against members of the LGBT community and none of them have been resolved," said Brahim Zamora, a representative of the organization "Democracia y Sexualidad" (Demysex) ("Democracy and Sexuality") to CNN Mexico.
The murder case of Jorge Roberto Macip, 47, was also reported this past weekend. His body was found in his own house by his partner. Ninety-five percent of Macip's body was burnt.
These tragic deaths can be attributed to the prejudice that still exists in the country, according to José Ángel Aguilar Gil, national coordinator of Demysex. "It's another homophobic crime," he said to CNN Mexico.