a transgender woman was violently attacked this Wednesday by a man on a busy street in Panama City, causing head and jaw injuries that keep her in serious condition, reported official sources and LGBTIQ+ groups, who have condemned the act as an act of homophobic aggression.
The attack took place on a sidewalk in front of a temple, while individuals from their vehicles rebuked the attacker and filmed the beating with their cell phones. In these images, which have circulated on social networks, it is seen how the victim is beaten, thrown to the ground and kicked in the head and face by her assailant, who was reduced by a group of students and handed over to police officers. National Police (NP).
In the videos, the attacker says that they wanted to rob him, extort money, and steal his car, while the victim denies it while defending himself from the blows. “You are a cueco cacha (having sex with homosexuals), it is what you are, you are going to appear on the networks,” some passers-by yelled at him, accusing him of allegedly not wanting to pay for the victim’s sexual services.
The young transsexual admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital is “in very delicate health, is intubated, and has a skull and mandibular fracture,” He told Venus Tejada, director of the Panamanian Association of Transgender People, that he identified the victim as “comrade Estrella, who just turned 25 years old.”
Tejada added that Estrella’s trans colleagues say that the cause of the brutal attack originated because the aggressor, who first “accepted the fee (for sexual services) from the partner, then did not want to pay.”
For his part, police deputy commissioner Edgardo Núñez indicated that the attack was committed against “a male person who was dressed as a woman.” The agent indicated that in the police action “the attacker was immediately apprehended” while the person attacked was transferred to a medical center.
The assailant, about 35 years old, unidentified, will be placed under the orders of the competent authorities, while the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) reported that it has launched an investigation.
For the crime of Attempted Homicide, police units apprehend a 35-year-old man, who is seen in a video circulating on social networks, beating another person on Vía Israel, San Francisco district. #DenunciaTheCrime pic.twitter.com/NT29uVCoqo
– National Police (@ProtegeryServir) August 16, 2023
LGBTIQ+ groups condemn what happened
LGBTIQ+ organizations and activists from the movement expressed their “dismay” at this recent act of violence committed against a transgender woman.
“What has happened today is a hate crime against a person, who represents a population group that lacks absolute protection by the State“said a joint statement from more than a dozen LGBTIQ+ Organizations.
They add that “no human being deserves to be beaten unconscious”, highlighting that the Panamanian State “has an outstanding debt with the protection of the LGBTIQ+ population” and that “Their negligence not only allows this type of abuse, but also promotes discrimination.”
Likewise, in the statement, the LGBTIQ+ organizations call on the competent authorities “to take firm and timely measures against the aggressor, making sure that justice is done and the weight of the law is applied.”
15 years after it repealed a decree law that criminalized “sodomy”, Panama still maintains other laws that discriminate against the LGTBIQ+ population: the regulations of the Police and the Fire Department consider homosexuality as a serious offense, worthy of expulsion, the collective he is prohibited from donating blood and equal marriage is not yet legalized.
The Supreme Court of Justice of Panama (CSJ) closed the door to equal marriage this year by stating in a ruling that “it has no category” of human rights.
EFE
More news in EL TIEMPO
#Transgender #woman #brutally #attacked #Panama #collectives #reject #violence