A transgender woman who was a prominent activist in El Salvador has been murdered.
In a press release, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) stated that Francela Méndez “… was killed by unknown persons on May 30, 2015, when she was at a friend’s house, who was also killed.”
Méndez, a trans woman and defender of human rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons worked daily with Colectivo Alejandría, an organization that advocates for the rights of gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in El Salvador. In 2013, Colectivo Alejandría joined other transgender advocacy organizations from El Salvador to testify before the Inter-American Commission about violence faced by the Salvadoran transgender community.
Attorney General for the Defense of Human Rights David Morales on June 4 condemned Méndez’s murder. According to a Washington Blade report, La Prensa Gráfica, a Salvadoran newspaper, reported Morales described the crime as an expression of anti-LGBT “hate.”
“The LGBTI population is victimized by discrimination, rejection and intolerance that can be seen in grave violations of their human rights,” he said, according to La Prensa Gráfica.
Morales’ office said that nine LGBT Salvadorans have been reported killed since 2009.
Front Line Defenders, a global human rights group, in a press release notes Méndez is the 10th trans woman who has been murdered in El Salvador since the beginning of the year.
