This Monday, November 13, Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo, the first non-binary person to be recognized for his gender identity in Mexico and to occupy an electoral magistrate in Latin America, was found dead and with stab wounds. Baena Saucedo used to participate with a fan of LGBTIQ+ colors in the sessions of the Electoral Tribunal of the Mexican state of Aguascalientes. Human rights organizations and LGBTIQ+ groups called for a national evening in memory of the official. The case remains under investigation.
“Some people through social networks have questioned why I use the Plenary Session (of the Electoral Tribunal) to make my videos, but few talk about the historical and structural discrimination that LGBTIQ+ people have experienced to occupy these spaces where important decisions are made. And the one I endured.”
Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo shared on his social networks content about the empowerment of people from the LGBTIQ+ community, provided information about acquired rights and also warned of the discrimination to which, above all, people who work in the public service are exposed. or in decision-making positions.
His last publication referred to a victory in political participation rights for LGBTIQ+ people: the creation of two positions for people of sexual diversity in the State Electoral Institute.
This Monday, November 13, he was found dead, along with his partner, in a home located in the Punta del Cielo residential complex, in Aguascalientes, in central Mexico. At the moment, the circumstances of the death are unknown, but authorities reported that both had stab wounds.
Ociel Baena, ‘the magistrate, was the first person of non-binary gender in Mexico to occupy a judgeship in the Electoral Tribunal of the state of Aguascalientes. He wore a skirt and tie. He arrived in heels to court sessions or to public events with senators and other Mexican authorities. .
The insults for his videos on social networks escalated to the point of receiving death threats. She even requested protection measures last July, after the murder of LGBTIQ + activist, Ulises Nava, also from Aguascalientes.
The case is under investigation
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of the Government, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, confirmed in the morning that it was the ‘magistrate. The Secretary of Security of Aguascalientes, Manuel Alonso García, reported that “there are no indications that there was a third person at the scene. “They probably hurt each other.” The authorities preliminarily classify it as a “sentimental” event.
The trans representative, María Clemente García, from the Morena party, rejected that the authorities handle that theory. “Ociel Baena did not die, she was murdered as a result of a hate crime. Given the obvious homophobia, transphobia, enebephobia (discrimination against non-binary people) of the judicial authorities who say that it was a judicial crime, we demand that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic bring the case to provide expeditious justice, “she stated.
Furthermore, he considers that the crime is a consequence of the constant hate speeches issued by leaders of the National Action Party (PAN) – a conservative political organization that currently governs Aguascalientes – “because they have fueled stigma and discrimination in the most conservative groups.”
Ociel Baena did not die, she was murdered as a result of a hate crime: María Clemente
“Given the obvious homophobia, transphobia and enebephobia of the Aguascalientes authorities who say that it was a crime of passion, we demand that @FGRMexico that attracts the case”: @MARIACLEMENTEMX pic.twitter.com/wbsaGgWTp9
— LA OCTAVA (@laoctavadigital) November 13, 2023
The state Attorney General’s Office reported that it began the investigations, following the approved protocol for investigating crimes committed against LGBTIQ+ people. At the moment, they point out that no damage was found in the door entrances, there are no traces of blood on the outside of the house, the presence of a third person is ruled out and one of the victims had a cutting instrument in his hand.
International organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International condemned the death of ‘magistrate for being a “tragedy” for the LGBTI community. In addition, they asked that the case be investigated impartially and expeditiously, “taking into consideration the context of violence and LGBTQIphobia that exists in the country.”
This is because Mexico is the second country with the most hate crimes in Latin America, with 305 violent events recorded from 2019 to 2022, including murders and disappearances, according to the National Observatory of Hate Crimes against LGBTI+ People in Mexico.
In 2022 alone, there were 22 disappearances and 62 cases of murders, attacks, and suicides, with the majority of victims being trans women and gay men. Cases of violence have increased, despite legal advances and sanctions stipulated for discrimination and hatred.
A trail of light “the magistrate”
In more than thirty cities throughout Mexico, a ‘trail of light’ covered the night of this Monday, November 13. Human rights organizations and LGBTIQ+ groups called for a national evening in memory of Ociel Baena.
The organizers ask you to bring a candle, a light, a flag or a fan, one of the items most used by Ociel Baena.
In various states of the country, a national evening is held in memory of Magistrate Jesús Ociel Baena. In the case of Mexico City the appointment is at the Estela de Luz at 7PM. pic.twitter.com/YbBTnqsn99
— Adela Micha (@Adela_Micha) November 13, 2023
As a first ‘magistrate Non-binary electoral in Latin America achieved rulings in favor of the LGBTIQ+ community and paved the way for people of sexual and gender diversity to fully exercise their rights of political participation and access decision-making positions.
With demands for justice, thus the concentration at the Estela de Luz in memory of magistrate Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo and his partner. pic.twitter.com/0CShbzfckI
— Pedro Márquez (@PedroMrquez_) November 14, 2023
Who was Ociel Baena?
“I got used to being resilient and putting up with insults when I was a teenager,” he said in an interview published by El País.
His career and passion for electoral rights began when he decided to be ‘candidate’ to the presidency of the Student Association of the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Coahuila, where he was from. The campaign focused on attacks due to his sexual orientation, but they did not prevent him from winning the election.
In 2006 he participated for the first time to be ‘supervisor electoral. Then, in a public contest she competed with nearly 2,500 people nationwide and came in first place to become a permanent part of the Electoral Institute.
His career continued to rise until he obtained the position in the subdirectorate of special sanctioning procedures. Finally, they offered him to join the Electoral Tribunal project.
I am a non-binary person, I am not interested in seeing myself as a woman or a man, that is an identity, it is mine and for me, for no one else. I don’t owe anything to the cisheteronorm. He is my dog and I bathe him! Support pic.twitter.com/L7J8T8psME
— OCIEL BAENA (@ocielbaena) June 22, 2023
“It was a very conservative Court and at the beginning I wore a tie, always very masculine and people congratulated me for ‘not looking’ homosexual,” said Ociel Baena.
Since 2020, he decided to be a visibly non-binary person. “I started wearing heels, wearing lipstick. Wear feminine clothing at important public events,” she said. Additionally, in her academic training she studied a doctorate in Law at the Autonomous University of Durango, a master’s degree in Law with an emphasis on Constitutional Law and Government Policies at the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the Autonomous University of Coahuila.
To be ‘magistrate The Electoral Tribunal had to challenge the call because it was only open to ‘men’ and ‘women’. After a legal fight, she manages to access and become the first non-binary person to obtain a magistracy.
Today at 9:30 a.m. the 13th Public Resolution Session was held where the file identified as TEEA-RAP-009/2023 was resolved. pic.twitter.com/OWT3FaoUd2
— Electoral Court of the State of Aguascalientes (@TriEE_Ags) November 1, 2023
“It was a struggle, from daring to challenge the call. They told me that I should be measured, but it was the only way to achieve it,” she said. “If in a society we had tolerance and respect, we wouldn’t have to be talking about whether I wear a skirt or heels, but by breaking the stereotype you make people uncomfortable,” he added.
Several Mexican public institutions have expressed their regret over the death of Ociel Baena. Political actors, senators and activists have also regretted what happened.
With local media, EFE
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