José Carlos Rodríguez I
Santiago de Compostela (EFE).- The Salvadoran trans activist Bianka Rodríguez is touring Galicia with the aim of making visible the situation of violence suffered by LGTBI people in her country. The first trans woman to obtain the DUI (Unique Identity Document) according to her identity and her name condemns that, in her country, LGTBI people are persecuted, in addition to by gangs, by the “police itself ”.
“The situation of the State of exception has increased violence. The second persecuting agent for the forced displacement of LGTBI people in El Salvador are the public security forces ”, he affirmed in an interview with Efe.
Although those known as gangs are the ones that exercise the most violence against the trans collective, Rodríguez points out that murders have even been committed by the police.
“Gangs exist and will continue to exist and they are much greater than the power that the president has,” defends Rodríguez, who considers that they are “very solid” criminal structures that transcend borders.
Regarding the prison devised by the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism believes that within the framework of the emergency regime, not all the people captured are gang members.
“The emergency regime has allowed the security forces to have the power to decide who is prosecuted and who is not,” said the activist. She condemns that in her country there is a “violation of fundamental rights” because “due judicial process” is not guaranteed.
Bianka Rodríguez is the executive director of the Concavis Trans association, a woman who has suffered “a harsh history of exclusion and discrimination”, which has led her, on the other hand, to lead the trans movement in El Salvador.
AN NGO TO WATCH FOR TRANS RIGHTS IN EL SALVADOR
Concavis Trans is an NGO whose purpose is “to represent, defend, ensure and promote the human rights and interests of trans women, to promote their development and respect for their human dignity” and for this purpose it carries out different workshops and educational projects. and development, in addition to promoting and monitoring complaints.
In fact, according to a report by the NGO, in 2020 three trans women and five homosexual people were murdered in El Salvador and there were up to 84 cases of forced internal displacement due to homophobic violence.
These internal displacements are due, in turn, in 31% of cases, to the threat of gangs; 27% to homicide attempts; 11% to physical violence; 9% to rape and 8% to abuse of authority by the Police.
Rodríguez, accompanied by the community technical assistant in the area of Territorial Development and Leadership of the association, Marcella Hernández, will visit, in collaboration with the NGO Assembly of Cooperation for Peace Galicia between this Wednesday and next day 30 the towns of Santiago, Ferrol, Vila de Cruces, Ames, Brión and Lalín, to develop awareness-raising activities in educational centers and hold meetings with various entities and administrations.
FLEEING VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION
Rodríguez was born in El Salvador and at just 15 years old he had to flee his home, where he suffered domestic violence from his mother and brother, due to his sexual orientation and identity: “I decided to flee from violence and because I felt that I did not It was right that they tried to correct me,” he explains.
With the help of her maternal grandmother, one of the few supports she had, she survived and had a roof to stay. She was the one who inspired him to continue his studies and do the Baccalaureate.
However, discrimination in El Salvador did not exclude the educational field. According to Bianka, she was forced to cut her hair, give up her dye, or dress in men’s clothing.
She positioned herself against it- because she did not want to “go back in the steps she had taken” since she was 15 years old, and that, as she affirms, at that moment she did not know that she was a trans person and identified herself “out of ignorance” as “transvestite”.
“I assumed myself in a role that was not the correct one. He thought that he was a transvestite person. It is what the media sold us at that time, ”she acknowledges.
All his friends disappeared. Nobody understood his reality, not even in areas like the University, where Rodríguez entered to study Agro-Industrial Engineering. “They didn’t understand how a transgender woman wanted to pursue a career for men,” she says.
He finally dropped out of the university and after a period in which everyone closed the doors to him in labor matters, he met Concavis, a place where he finally found the support he needed.
“CAVE YOU INSPIRED ME”
“Concavis inspired me to know my rights and understand my gender identity and expression. He cleared my mind,” she explains.
From then on it was a story of “empowerment and autonomy”. She joined Concavis in 2014 as a volunteer in the communication area. There she was in contact with other trans people like her, who had experienced “similar” situations.
She soon became the communication director of the association and already in 2017, after the departure of the former executive director, she took the reins of Concavis.
Its former director, Karla Avelar, had to flee to Switzerland, where she requested asylum, after several assassination attempts. Precisely, one of the initiatives launched by Concavis is the Casa Refugio Karla Avelar, a reception center for LGB-TIQ+ people, through which some 80 people have passed since its foundation in 2021 and which provides legal advice and attention. psychosocial.
A LIFE IN CONTINUOUS DANGER
Rodríguez’s life has also been in danger. She recounts that before becoming executive director she suffered “a deprivation of liberty by an unknown subject.” So far, the Attorney General’s Office has not been able to investigate the facts.
“He told me that he was going to kill me because he knew that I was a human rights defender and that I defended the rights of fags,” says the activist.
He assures that he thought that he was going to become “another statistic”. However, he warns that he is not afraid because it is necessary to tell what is happening in his country.
Throughout her great career as an activist, Rodríguez has been recognized by UNHCR at the regional level for the Americas with the Nansen Award, for her work in defense of the Human Rights of the LGBTI population.
In addition, in 2021 she was recognized as the first trans woman named as a High-Profile Collaborator of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and is characterized for being, after a very long judicial ordeal, the first trans woman to get her name changed. of your identity document. EFE
