During the early hours of Monday, a female commander on board the PV-336 patrol apprehended a trans woman by the name of Lorena Amor Barajas Espinoza, who claims she was not informed of the reason she was being arrested.
Lorena clarifies in her testimony that the commander, in a disrespectful and sarcastic manner, referred to her using masculine pronouns, she asked for respect and presented her identification with her female name and sex.
The commander replied “For me, you are still a man”; Lorena asked once again to show respect and stop committing acts of transphobia and homophobia, since she was being treated like a criminal without any basis to do so.
Lorena decided to tell the officer that last Friday she had attended the event against homophobia led by the Mayor of Puerto Vallarta, however, the officer continued homophobic behavior.
According to her testimony, the commander was enraged and at that moment handcuffed her and proceeded to take her to the patrol, however, she was not immediately taken to the police station, as she was “paraded” around several points of the city, leaving her in fear of her life, as she states.
Around 7 am she arrived at the police station in Las Juntas, where she points out that when she arrived, another police officer joined in the teasing of her.
Lorena could not make calls or get answers about her detention until her social worker arrived.
Months ago, Mayor Arturo Dávalos announced that his police courses to deal with this type of issues were proving to be a success.
On May 17, Puerto Vallarta was named as the second most important beach destination for the LGBT community and the only destination in Mexico to have a gayborhood (Zona Romatica).
The arrival of 20 thousand national and international tourists is estimated for “Vallarta Pride”, the most important event of the year for the LGTB community.
