Karla Valentina Camarena del Castillo

Activity
LGBTI community rights defender

Organization
Mexican Network of Trans Women in Guanajuato State

Attack experienced
Transphobic feminicide

THE FACTS – On Sunday, March 29, unknown assailants shot and killed defender Karla Camarena in San Felipe, Guanajuato. Her corpse was not identified until Tuesday, March 31.

Karla Camarena, also known as Valentina Ferrety, was a widely recognized defender of the rights of LGBTI communities in the state of Guanajuato. She was the coordinator of the first Gay March in the city of Salamanca and led the struggle to recognize the gender identity of the trans community in Guanajuato. She was also coordinator of the National Mexican Network of Trans Women in Guanajuato.

The transphobic feminicide of Karla Camarena is yet another expression of the high risk situation experienced by trans defenders in Mexico and the entire Mesoamerican region. This is mainly due to the conditions of discrimination, precariousness and violence they face because of their gender-based sexual identity and their work in defense of the rights of sexual diversity.

We of IM-Defensoras and the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico repudiate the trans-feminicide of Karla Camarena and express our solidarity with her family and the LGBTI community in Guanajuato.

We demand that the Mexican government conduct an exhaustive investigation of this crime in which the defender is not re-victimized and impunity does not prevail, but in which justice is done and guarantees are established to ensure that crimes of this type are not repeated.