By EFE
LGBTI groups protested Monday at Mexico's National Palace, where President Andrés Manuel López Obrador lives and works, following the death of activist and politician Samantha Fonseca, the fourth trans woman murdered so far this year in the country.
The protesters, mostly trans women, painted the wall of the compound with slogans such as "Trans Lives Matter," "Transphobic Mexico" and "Comprehensive Trans Law."
"How long will the murders and crimes against trans people stop? How much longer will we have to tolerate?" one of the spokeswomen said over a loudspeaker.
The protest follows the murder of Fonseca, who was shot on Sunday as she left Mexico City's South Prison, where she was a human rights defender and had participated in López Obrador's ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party.
The fourth murder of a trans person so far in 2024
This is already the fourth murder of a trans person in the first 15 days of the year in Mexico, where on Saturday the body of an unidentified trans woman was reported to be found in Tlaquepaque, in the state of Jalisco.
Last Thursday, Miriam Ríos Ríos, a trans commissioner of the opposition Citizens' Movement (MC) party, was killed in Michoacán, a state in the west of the country.
LGBTI groups protest at Mexico's National Palace, where the president lives and works, after the death of activist and politician Samantha Fonseca.José Méndez / EFE
And on Jan. 6, hairstylist Gaby Ortiz was found dead in the state of Hidalgo next to a poster board with a message of hate.
Outrage has grown because last Monday López Obrador referred to a trans congresswoman from his party, Salma Luévano, as "a man dressed as a woman," although a day later he apologized and recognized the right to gender identity.
"Andrés Manuel, you are a man dressed as a leftist," one of the demonstrators said.
Although at least 20 of the 32 states have legislated gender identity, Mexico is the second country in Latin America with the most homophobic and transphobic violence, after Brazil, according to the National Observatory of LGBT Hate Crimes of the Rainbow Foundation.
In Mexico, there were 52 murders of trans and gender diverse people between October 2022 and September 2023, only below 100 in Brazil, according to data from the TGEU (Transgender Europe) Trans Murder Monitoring 2023 research project cited by Statista.