(CNN Spanish) - The murder of a transgender woman that occurred in Guatemala this Saturday prompted the United Nations Agency for Refugees to ask for "effective protection" for people who leave their country, including members of the LGBTQ community, on Thursday. .
The 27-year-old victim of Salvadoran origin left El Salvador in 2017 and applied for asylum in Guatemala in 2018, as indicated in a UNHCR statement, after receiving threats from gangs and gender-based violence.
The body was found on Saturday, August 1, at his home in Guatemala City. "When the mother found the body, she had signs of torture," Bianca Rodríguez, an LGBTQ activist in El Salvador, told CNN.
In Guatemala, several organizations that promote the rights of this sector of the population have also asked the authorities for an investigation to clarify the crime.
According to UNHCR, in 2019, more than 188,000 new asylum applications were registered from people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, for security reasons and the deterioration of its economy.
"The decrease in migration in the last two years goes hand in hand with the increase in asylum applications," César Ríos, Director of the Salvadoran Migrant Institute, told CNN.
"The mechanisms imposed mainly by the United States frustrate individuals and families to initiate protection processes," adds Ríos.
UNHCR also called on states to promote actions to prevent this type of crime and bring those responsible to justice.
On July 28, a court in El Salvador sentenced three police officers to 20 years in prison for the murder of a transgender woman on January 31, 2019.
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