BRAZIL: Mob beats transgender woman to death

A 42-year-old transgender woman Dandara dos Santos has lost her life when she was dragged from her home and attacked in front of residents in Fortaleza, Ceara state, Brazil, into the street and beaten to death.

Footage of the incident which has sparked reactions around the world and especially in the LGBT community show Dandara begging the attackers to spare her life before she was brutally mobbed to death.

Before she was killed the person behind the camera who spoke in Portuguese said; “they will kill the faggot”.

The video footage also showed Dandara’s attackers making cruel taunts about her hormone-therapy induced breast, hurling homophobic insults at her.

Reacting to the killing of Dandara the government of Ceará released a statement threatening that the attackers will be punished while also condemning the killing of the transgender woman.

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‘‘The Government of Ceara hereby expresses its deepest condemnation of acts of violence and intolerance as what was practiced against Dandara dos Santos, killed by brutal beating.” The statement by the government of Ceará read in part.

Continuing, the statement added that; “It should be informed that the entire structure of the State Public Security is mobilized for the investigation of the crime and will punish those responsible.

“This government believes in and supports, through a human rights framework linked to the Office of the Governor and current public policies that pluralism, diversity and tolerance are fundamental values for democracy.”

The killing of Dandara is alleged to be the 5th transgender murder recorded in Brazil in one month and according to the MirrorUK, between October 2015 and September 2016 in Brazil alone, 123 trans and gender-variant people were murdered.

 

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