Jesús Ociel Baena was Latin America’s first nonbinary judge. They were found dead in their home in Mexico’s Aguascalientes state on Nov. 13, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Baena’s Facebook page)
Authorities in Mexico’s Aguascalientes state on Nov. 13 found Latin America’s first nonbinary judge dead in their home.
The Associated Press reported Jesús Ociel Baena’s body was discovered next to another person who media reports and an LGBTQ+ rights group identified as their partner. State prosecutor Jesús Figueroa Ortega told reporters during a press conference the two victims showed signs they had been stabbed.
Aguascalientes state is located in central Mexico.
The AP reported Baena in October 2022 became a magistrate on Aguascalientes’ electoral court. Baena in June was one of the first people in Mexico to receive a passport with a nonbinary gender marker.
Violence based on gender identity and sexual orientation remain commonplace in Mexico.
The AP reported Baena in the weeks before their death had received death threats. Federal Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez on Monday said it remains unclear if the murders were “a homicide or an accident.”
The New Gay Times, the Washington Blade’s media partner in Mexico, reported LGBTQ rights groups across the country have demanded “a definitive and specialized investigation” into Baena’s murder. Thousands of people on Monday who took part in a march in Mexico City demanded justice for Baena.
“We are and will be there for you, dear Ociel,” said Casa Refugio Paola Buenrostro, a shelter in Mexico City that Casa de las Muñecas Tiresas, a local transgender rights group, runs, on Monday in a post to its Facebook page. “Your fight will not be in vein.”
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