Well-Known Chilean Trans Activist Murdered
Claudia Díaz Pérez, 73, a prominent transgender activist in Chile, was found dead in her home in Cartagena Sunday, and authorities are investigating her death as a homicide and possible hate crime.Díaz was president of a trans organization for older people, the first in the nation, Chilean outlet Sies Franjas reports.
Its name, Club de Adultos Mayores Sobrevivientes del 73, or Club for Older Adult Survivors of 73, refers to the persecution that took place under General Augusto Pinochet, who led a military coup that year and ruled the country dictatorially until 1990.The Investigations Police of Chile’s Homicide Brigade told newspaper El Líder that Díaz, who also owned the salon Peluquería Salón Claudita Unisex, had head injuries that were “compatible with the action of third parties” and that they occurred less than 24 hours before her body was discovered.
Authorities are still trying to determine if her death was a hate crime, although her friends and relatives say it was.If the killing “is proven to be a hate crime, we would be witnessing a 100% increase in homo/transphobic murders in relation to 2021, a worrying and explosive increase that leads us once again to demand that the authorities decisively support the creation of an anti-discriminatory state institution in Chile,” said activist organization Movilh, Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation.
Díaz, reports the Washington Blade, was also a leader of Cartagena Atlético, a sports organization, and Sindicato Afrodita (Aphrodite Syndicate), a trans women's group.
