Red flags are raised in Jalisco due to a wave of attacks against the trans community

Violence against trans women in Mexico has reached alarming levels, and Jalisco is one of the states where the crisis is most visible and where red flags have been raised, amid the ongoing attacks and prevailing impunity.

This is the warning from Mónica Luz Ahumada Aguilar, director of the Mexican Network of Trans Women, which documents cases of discrimination, attacks, and murders against this population. In August alone, she recorded eight cases in Jalisco and fourteen nationwide.
Among the eight cases documented last month in Jalisco, two were high-profile transfemicides, and the other six were serious physical attacks against trans women: threats, physical violence, workplace discrimination, and kidnappings, reflecting a pattern of systematic violence. “Several of our colleagues are forced to sell to organized crime, and when they don’t comply, they are retaliated against. Others, who work in styling or activism, are attacked for speaking out.”

According to the organization’s director, many trans women engage in sex work, an activity that exposes them to organized crime and sometimes forces them to participate in it due to discrimination in other sectors of the workforce. But their profession or activism doesn’t necessarily free them from being victims. Some suffer violence simply for speaking out or being visible.

Joselinne Páez was attacked in Tepatitlán de Morelos, Jalisco. The attack landed her in intensive care, and she ultimately died on August 18. Days earlier, on August 9, Katia Daniela Medina Rafael, director of the Zapotlán Diverso collective, was found dead. Ahumada recalls the case of a young trans woman who was deprived of her liberty; Her body was found in the Las Agujas grave in the municipality of Zapopan, from where 270 bags containing human remains have been recovered, a total of 56 victims, 25 of whom have been identified.

Impunity prevails
Sexual diversity groups have raised their voices to demand justice, but the numbers are not in their favor.

From 2019 to 2025, the Jalisco State Attorney General’s Office has opened 95 investigations into crimes against trans women, ten of which are homicides. However, only five people have been prosecuted for acts of violence against them, and only two sentences have been issued: one conviction and one acquittal. This reveals the impunity, inefficiency, and structural discrimination of the judicial system.