Ociel Baena was a highly beloved and well-known non-binary activist in Mexico.
As the first openly non-binary magistrate in the state of Aguascalientes, Baena was a warm, encouraging leader. According to Juan Pablo Delgado, who helps lead a local human rights organization called Amicus: "This is someone who generated so much empathy, affection internationally."
Now, Baena and their partner Dorian Nieves are dead. Authorities discovered the pair brutally wounded inside their home.
The Mexican people are demanding answers and a rigorously thorough investigation.Warning: this petition contains graphic details of homophobic violence.Sign the petition to stand with the LGBTQ+ community in Mexico!According to the state's chief prosecutor, authorities found Baena's body covered in 20 different lacerations from a shaving razor. This level of intensity and cruelty would be consistent with the types of hate and abuse queer, gay, trans, and non-binary people face regularly.
Baena continually received death threats and hate messages, especially as they became a more visible public servant in recent years. Yet state police are trying to insist that these horrific deaths weren't hate crimes, but instead blamed the couple themselves, trying to frame their deaths as a murder-suicide.
Other officials are even claiming their deaths could be "some kind of accident."
But members of the LGBTQ+ community in Mexico are speaking out, sharing that
homophobic and transphobic violence is still terrifyingly common. Additionally, activists in Mexico say state and local authorities have a long history of minimizing violence against queer people, including murders.
The Mexican government owes it to these families and the entire LGBTQ+ community to thoroughly investigate the horrific crimes that lead to Nieves and Baena's deaths. Sign the petition now!