Laura Aguilar
Age 3212 May 2013
Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)
Stabbed
TDoR list ref: tgeu/12-May-2013/Laura Aguilar
Laura was killed by her former partner.
This day, the first crime of a trans woman is committed in Tierra del Fuego. This is Laura Aixa Xuxú Aguilar Millacahuin, 32, murdered in the building located at Rivadavia 418 in Río Grande. "The perpetrator of the crime is her former partner, Carlos Humberto Traberg, 55, who is already held incommunicado at the disposal of Justice" (Police Summary, 05-12-2013).
The trans woman had been the first to obtain authorization to carry out the gender change, by registering her name that she had chosen on her birth certificate, on her DNI and on her work file.
According to the site specializing in police issues, “the first version of the events that occurred indicates that Laura came to the house to talk. The man agreed, however after a few minutes the conversation escalated and they moved to the kitchen of the house, where the discussion got out of control. Traberg took a butcher-type knife, with which he made a cut on the left side of Laura's neck."
Traberg's elderly mother and a caregiver were in the house. This woman "called the ambulance and the police, who were on the scene in a matter of minutes" the medical professionals tried to save Laura Aguilar's life, but they could do nothing as the cut would have been in the area of the jugular.
Laura was well known for her advocacy for the rights of trans people.
The woman had gained “public notoriety for her militancy in favor of the rights of the transsexual community. Along with having obtained her new DNI she established a close relationship with the work team of the government of Tierra del Fuego, which incorporated her into the Sewing Workshop of the Ministry of Social Development” (La 97 Radio Fueguina).
A few days before the crime, she had been “received by the governor (Fabiana) Ríos in the president’s office, where she presented her complaint against the directors of the Unified Provincial Autarchic Institute of Social Security (IPAUSS) for the delays in the completion of the sexual adaptation surgery that was being processed”.
On the occasion, he declared: “There is a lot of anxiety, there is a lot of psychological and physical wear and tear,” Aguilar complained at that time, expressing that “I have updated my psychological and psychiatric reports and everything is approved, where two professionals expose the urgent nature surgery” (Radio Fueguina).
TvT partner organization Centro de Apoyo a las Identidades Trans www.losandes.com.ar 13.05.2013