Josselin
Age 291 Aug 2020
Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala)
Beaten
TDoR list ref: tgeu/1-Aug-2020/Josselin
Josselin was murdered in her home. She was an asylum seeker who had fled El Salvador in 2017 after suffering transphobic violence and persecution by maras (gangs).
Josselin, a 29-year-old trans woman of Salvadoran origin who had requested asylum in this country and lived in zone 7 of Guatemala City, was murdered at her home. Her mother found her, with multiple blows and a disfigured face on the morning of Saturday, August 1.
Josselin engaged in the informal clothing and makeup trade in the market in the same area. She had been living between Guatemala and El Salvador for 12 years, where she was constantly traveling with her mother when in 2018, due to persecution by gangs and violence in El Salvador due to the lack of recognition of her gender identity, she requested refuge in Guatemala. This was reported to Presentes Carlos Valdez, a member of Lambda Guatemala (Organization for Equality, Dignity and Human Rights of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual Men and Women, Trans and Intersex Men and Women of Guatemala). Until the date of her death there was no resolution from the Guatemalan Migration Institute, she says. Lambda had been supporting Josselin because of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis with housing and food.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) condemned her murder.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed its dismay at the violent death of a Salvadoran transsexual woman, who, for having suffered violence due to her gender identity and gang persecution in El Salvador, had requested an asylum process in Guatemala.
In a statement, UNHCR explained that the woman's body was found on August 1 at her home in Guatemala City and that she had escaped from El Salvador, after she was the victim of violence.
In this regard, they call on the Guatemalan authorities "to thoroughly investigate death in view of their commitment to protect people from the LGBTI community and people who request international protection in the country."
Giovanni Bassu, UNHCR Regional Representative for Central America and Cuba, expressed his condolences to the family and loved ones of this woman "who was trying to rebuild her life in Guatemala after having been forced to flee her country due to violence."
https://www.solonoticias.com/2020/08/04/salvadorena-trans-es-asesinada-en-guatemala/
https://lahora.gt/acnur-se-pronuncia-por-muerte-violenta-de-solicitante-de-asilo-de-el-salvador/
