Jesusa Fidel Ventura Reyes (aka. Chucha), image via Jazz Bustamante
Jesusa Fidel Ventura Reyes was a 25-year-old trans woman living in Veracruz, an east coast Mexican state. Better known as Chucha, she had just started transitioning, had raven black hair and a love of fashion. Then, one night around May 17 — the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) — Reyes never came home. After 24 hours, her family called the police.
Police later discovered her head in a cooler in front of the Fortín de las Flores city hall. The rest of her body was thrown onto a street elsewhere in the city.
The following Monday, her family came to identify her body, but her murderer (or murderers) remain at large, her case unsolved. And she’s just one of several trans murders this year whose perpetrators may never face justice.
Chucha’s murder has understandably upset Veracruz’s local LGBTQ community. In a public Facebook post, local trans activist Jazz Bustamante called Chucha “a transgender woman with a life full of obstacles to be accepted as always assumed.”
Bustamante added, “The message is clear: Their hatred towards our population increases each day. I strongly condemn this fact and demand the three powers of government act with such facts before them.”
Bustamante says that during 2019 there have been 11 hate crimes that have gone unpunished. In her recent report, “Diagnosis of Hate Crimes in the State of Veracruz”, Bustamante said from 2013 to 2019 “we have a record of 174 fatalities, among which are the murders with sharp-pointed weapons, torture, asphyxia, firearms, a case of torture and sexual abuse, a case of stoning. ”
Gay Star News notes “Last month, a trans woman named La Becky was shot and killed in Veracruz at a family gathering.” So far, five trans women of color have been slain in the U.S. this year alone.
