The Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit) rejected any form of violence that compromises the physical, moral or psychological integrity of people, as well as damage to material property, and announced that it will present the corresponding complaints after the attack on union offices in the Benito Juárez Mayor’s Office.
This afternoon, LGBTI activists vandalized the headquarters of the Institute’s union, SNTInfonavithe is protesting because union workers tore a pride flag from the building on Tuesday.
The Institute assured that this Wednesday various groups of the LGBTI+ community gathered peacefully in front of the Infonavit offices in Barranca del Muerto 280.
Protesters expressed their discontent over the recent destruction of the LGBTI+ pride flag by the National Union of Infonavit Workers (SNTInfonavit).
“After that, a group of people went to the facilities of the National Union of Infonavit Workers (SNTInfonavit), located at Minerva 30, causing material damage,” said the institution’s Management.
He stated that Infonavit, as a social security institution, is guided through constructive dialogue between different actors.
“The Institute stands in solidarity with the SNTInfonavit to file the corresponding complaints about what happened and at all times, will take the necessary actions to safeguard the integrity of its collaborators,” he warned.
SNTInfonavit offices vandalized
LGBT activists vandalized this Wednesday offices of the union of the Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit), in the Benito Juárez mayor’s office of Mexico City, to protest because workers removed a gay pride flag from the central offices.
LGBTI activists gathered at the headquarters of the organization, broke windows, painted graffiti, burned furniture and removed a flag from its flagpole to raise one of the community’s flags.
The pride flag, a symbol of the fight for LGBTI rights, was violently removed, generating an immediate response from the community and its allies.
On Tuesday, Carlos Martínez, general director of Infonavit, accused on his social networks that the Institution’s union leader called on some of his members to break with the flags that “we put up every June during pride month.”
Rafael Riva, leader of the National Union of Infonavit Workers (SNTI), ordered his members to destroy the flag placed annually on the occasion of LGBTI pride month. “Do not tell me that it is this day, it is the day of the other, it is the day of the hereafter. This (the building) identifies us all,” declared Riva through a megaphone, justifying his decision.
“Today I have been a witness and victim of an act of barbarism, hatred, homophobia and discrimination,” wrote Martínez, who published a video in which workers of the agency are seen tearing an LGBT flag that hung in the building,” lamented Martínez, who confirmed that he proudly belonged to the community.
“After 5 years, it is the first time he has reached this point. A few days ago, on May 17, within the framework of the day against discrimination against the LGBT population, he spoke of the pride of being gay and being able to direct an institution such as Infonavit, and from here contribute to the expansion of rights and promote inclusion in all its facets”.
This Wednesday, dozens of protesters brought needles, threads and staples to repair the flag at the government building in Mexico City.
“No to homophobia, no to homophobia!” chanted the LGBTI groups as they advanced towards the Infonavit building.
The act of hate not only affected the LGBTI community, but also mobilized employees of the agency, who joined the demonstration to show their rejection.
Repudiation
The answer was immediate. LGBTI organizations, the Government of Mexico and the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-DH) expressed their repudiation. “We condemn the acts of intolerance, hatred and discrimination committed in the Infonavit facilities in CDMX. Inclusion and respect for diversity, human rights and human dignity must prevail,” stated the UN-DH on the social network X.
Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, spokesman for the Presidency of Mexico, also condemned the action: “Yesterday, union leaders attacked the LGBTTTIQA+ flag placed in the Infonavit facilities. We are a plural and diverse nation where love has no gender and respect prevails,” he wrote on his social networks.
Despite the demonstration and widespread rejection, union leader Rafael Riva defended his actions in a public letter, arguing that “the façade of the building is the property of Infonavit and it is not justified to use it for advertising purposes, having placed banners in commemoration of LGBTTTIQ+ pride.”
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