Princess of the Carnival of Minatitlán murdered hours after being crowned

20-year-old Transgender woman Britany Sanchez Zárate had just been crowned Princess of the Carnival of Minatitlán, Veracruz when two men fatally shot her.

Britany Sanchez Zárate was watching a soccer match Sunday, two days after the Carnival, when two men silently approached her and shot her repeatedly point blank with 38 caliber handguns. Her panicked friends ran for the paramedics, but it was too late. She was pronounced dead at the scene according to El Diario de Xalapa.

There is precious little information about Britany Sanchez Zárate or the Carnival and the misgendering and dead naming by local media isn’t helping. It is not known if the police have leads or how to contact them.

A deadly pattern.

According to Desastre the most recent study of hate crimes in Mexico by the civil organization Letra s, the state that agglomerates the highest number of hate crimes against LGBT people is Veracruz (43 murders); followed by Guerrero (39) Quintana Roo (33), State of Mexico (30), Chihuahua (28) Puebla (27) and Tamaulipas (25).

The study also points out that there is a pattern in the killings, as most of the bodies of gay men were found in their homes with wounds inflicted by punches or suffocation; Trans women are found in vacant lots and wounded with guns.

“Despite the advances that have been made in recent years in the recognition of rights to LGBT + people in Mexico, the various manifestations of violence against them not only did not diminish in the past six years, but there are even indications that They increased. Unfortunately, we do not know the scope and magnitude of the problem due to the absence of official data collection systems that can account for the particularities and trends of this specific type of violence.”

“What we do know is the social context of discrimination and intolerance towards sexual and gender diversities that has not changed in the country in recent years. According to a survey carried out by Conapred and the CNDH, 6 out of 10 LGBT + people surveyed suffered discrimination during the last year. And more than half, 53 percent, report having suffered expressions of hatred, physical aggression and harassment. In addition, almost a third, 30 percent, suffered arbitrary and discriminatory treatment by the police due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.”

“This social context of rejection and intolerance causes LGBT + people to live or be exposed to everyday violence in the different spheres in which they live simply by expressing what they are and what they feel. However, due to the fear of revealing their sexual orientation, suffering revictimization or distrust of justice institutions, many LGBT + people prefer not to report when they have been victims of acts of discrimination and violence.”

R.I.P. Britany Sanchez Zárate

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