Gender & Sexual Solidarity: News & Updates

The Córdoba Controversial Social Foundation-Cordoberxia coordinates the Human Rights Platform of the Colombian Caribbean, covering several departments in the Caribbean zone of Colombia. One of its leaders is Nestor Moreno Ríos. In addition to his work with Cordoberxia, Nestor is also active in several other human rights organizations, including Southern Córdoba Human Rights Network and Observatory of Human Rights of Southern Córdoba (OBDEHSUC). Moreover, Nestor directs the Sociopolitical Think Tank of Córdoba and the Corporación Córdoba Diversa, a nonprofit that works on civil rights and inclusion of the sexual diversity community in his home city of Montería.

When he went to his gym for his 6am morning work out on August 5, a gunman entered and tried to shoot him. Thankfully, the gun jammed after repeated tries, which allowed Nestor just enough time to find refuge and call for help. The rapid action of the police avoided a tragedy.

We urge authorities in Colombia to consult with Nestor Moreno Ríos to devise protection measures, in strict accordance with his wishes.

In a press release on the rights of transgender persons issued March 31, 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reminded the member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS) that recognition of gender identity is essential to all civil, political and human rights. The IACHR expressed its disposition to work with member nations and civil society to promote and guarantee the human rights of persons who are trans, non-binary, or otherwise of the sexual diversity community.

In Colombia, trans people were given the right to change their gender on all identification documents starting in 2015. In October 2019, Bogotá elected their first woman and lesbian mayor. Various elected representatives across national, departmental, and local levels now come from the LGBTI+ community. Increased visibility in TV shows and media coverage has grown more consistent.

Despite the advances, hatred and violence against LGBTI+ persons (especially transgender persons) persists. In 2024, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman reported a 30% increase (compared to the previous year) in cases of bias-based violence against transgender women, transgender men, and non-binary people.   And so far this year, at least 24 LGBTI+ have been killed.

Three of those hate killings have happened in just one town, Bello, a suburb of Medellin. In a horrific act of violence on April 4, assailants abducted Sara Millerey González, a 32-year-old trans activist, beat her, broke her arms and legs and threw her into the Playa Rica River and left her to die. The incident gained national attention because onlookers recorded her screaming from the water and posted videos on social media. When rescuers finally retrieved her and took her to an emergency clinic, she was suffering from a punctured lung and hypothermia. She died from a heart attack the following day, with her mother at her bedside. “I knelt down and hugged her and told her that I loved her very much. I told her she was going to be with God, because no one in heaven was going to humiliate or discriminate against her for being her.”

Indigenous Women for the Conservation, Research, and Use of Natural Resources

Danger to social leaders is real in Oaxaca, the state with the fifth highest number of attacks on human rights defenders and journalists. Sandra Domínguez, an Indigenous Zapotec activist who had denounced Oaxacan government leaders, was disappeared a few months ago.

On February 27, while she was away at an intergenerational human rights workshop, the home of Zapotec defender Silvia Pérez Yescas was burgaled and her computer equipment stolen.  She had already been forcibly displaced from her home for more than a year because she fears physical assault should she return. As the founder of Indigenous Women for the Conservation, Research, and Use of Natural Resources (CIARENA, AC), she and others with CIARENA decided to close the office temporarily out of safety concerns.

We are urging that top officials in Oaxaca request that the National Mechanism for Women Human Rights Defenders strengthen protection measures and guarantee the safety of the members of CIARENA.

Caribe Afirmativo, a Colombian LGBTQI+ advocacy organization, reports a growing wave of systemic violence toward the LGBTQI+ community across the country. The organization is based on the Caribbean coast in Barranquilla, the capital city of Atlántico, the department with the most killings of LGBTQI+ persons in Colombia. So far this year, they have documented at least 31 killings, with at least 16 victims who were transwomen.

In just one week, three LGBTQI+ persons were killed, two of them in Atlántico Department: Armando René Torres Bohórquez (on August 29 in Atlántico Department), Germán Ríos Cifuentes (on September 1 in Valle del Cauca Department), and Valeska London (on September 4 in Atlántico Department).

In addition to our request to officials in Colombia that both the material and intellectual authors of these assassinations be found and prosecuted, we are also urging that the government:

-work to end the culture of impunity of crimes committed against members of the LGBTQI+ community

-create a culture of economic and social inclusion to integrate transgender individuals so that they can live and work in less vulnerable conditions

-effectively comply with the creation of the mechanism for monitoring and preventing violence and discrimination against LGBTQI+ people, as established in the National Development Plan