Editor’s note: The Washington Blade published a Spanish version of this story on Saturday. A 29-year-old transgender woman from El Salvador who fled to Guatemala was murdered on Aug.
1. The woman, who the Blade will call Jazmín in order to protect her family’s security, had sought refugee status because of violence and persecution from gangs that she suffered because of her gender identity.
The Guatemalan Migration Institute had not responded to Jazmín’s request before her death. She was found with several wounds on her body and her face was disfigured.
Bianca Rodríguez, director of COMCAVIS Trans, a trans advocacy group in El Salvador, in a video posted to social media highlighted the urgent need to protect LGBTQ people in Central