UPDATE: The prosecutors investigating the brutal murder of a Mexican trans activist Agnes Torres in Puebla have announced that suspects have been detained and are being questioned. The investigation is still ongoing, but other investigators have said that the evidence against the suspects is sufficient to warrant an indictment as early as next week.
For now prosecutors refuse to elaborate what evidence they have or who the suspects are that they have detained. They have stated that more information will be available in the coming days.
Torres was brutally murdered, burned and left for dead in the nearby hills of Puebla.
The outcry has been immense causing an uproar throughout the state and the whole country. Activists have taken to social media to demand justice. Vigils and marches are now taking place in memory of Torres and demands for LGBT protection.
The Puebla legislature swiftly responded by passing a constitutional amendment that prohibits hate crime and discrimination against the LGBT community. According to The Gay Report's Mexican sources, said legislation has been the quickest pro-LGBT legislation to have been passed in human history, taking only less than 48 hours from drafting, committee vote, and full floor vote, and support from the Governor to final passage and being included in the constitution.
The head of Puebla's public safety, Ardelio Vargas, assured the LGBT community that the police will be open to all in the community and that LGBTs should not be fearful or intimidated to approach police. Vargas encouraged the LGBT community to report any suspicious activity, threats, intimidation or discrimination. Vargas underlined that under the new constitutional amendment the police force as a legal obligation more than ever before to stop homophobia and deter hate crime.
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Reports have surfaced that a transgender activist by the name of Agnes Torres Hernandez has been found dead in a rural town in the Mexican state of Puebla. After her colleagues noticed her missing for too long they reported Torres missing to the authorities and prompting activists to mount on a search for themselves.
It was not until the district attorney's office in Puebla found a dead body in the hills of a rural town that the search was called off after the body match Torres' profile. Her parents traveled to the coroners to identify the body as indeed belonging to Torres.
It is clear by the evidence, activists and a lawyer say, that it was a hate crime and that foul play was involved. An investigation is still pending as to possible motive and suspect.
Many LGBT activists claim that hate crime is widespread in the area and that law enforcement either lack the adequate resources to investigate or refuse all together. This has been the ninth murder of a prominent LGBT activist in Mexico.
Jose Soto also contributed to this report.
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