Human Rights: Autopsy Reveals Activist Agnes Torres was killed by Having Throat Slit

El Milenio- "The PGJ in Puebla confirms the murder and has begun the preliminary investigation (case number: AP/406/2012/Atlixco). The body was found a kilometer from a bridge on the highway Siglo XXI.

The State’s Attorney General’s Office in Puebla confirmed the murder of Agnes Torres Hernandez, political activist and transgender, who was found dead on a slope near a Puebla highway after having her throat slit.

The body of the gender-rights defender, who was officially recognized by the name Abraham Torres Hernandez (though she had been working to legally change her name in the capital), was found Saturday afternoon a kilometer away from a bridge on the highway Siglo XXI (21st century).

According to the autopsy performed by the coroner, the cause of death was hypovolemic shock caused by cutting with a sharp weapon. The autopsy was performed as part of the preliminary investigation into case number AP/406/2012/Atlixco.

The body of Torres Hernandez remained unidentified in the Atlixco morgue until Sunday when family members were able to identify it.

With the death of Abraham Torres Hernandez, there have been three hate crimes committed against homosexuals in Puebla, although activist groups, some represented by Ibrahim Zamora and the organization “De Ser” (To Be), have claimed that there have been six homicides against members of the gay community in Puebla in 2012.

Since last night friends and acquaintances of the activist had been reporting her disappearance through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, claiming that the last the had been known of her was that she left with her luggage en route to a party in Chilpilo, located in the town of San Gregorio Atzompa near the federal highway of Puebla-Atlixco." Spanish original 

Translation: Mikael Rojas, Americas Program intern