The murders of two transwomen in Puerto Rico are shaking the world: the bodies of Layla Pelaez Sánchez (21) and Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos (32) were found in a burnt-out car. Two other transgender persons have already been killed in Puerto Rico in the last two months. Activists* speak of an epidemic of violence.

The two girlfriends lived in New York and, according to family members, were only visiting in their home Puerto Rico. They planned to end their vacation at the end of the month and return to New York. Now they are dead: Layla Peláez’s burning car was found early Wednesday morning on a deserted road in Humacao on the east coast of Puerto Rico.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, eight transgender or non-binary persons have already been murdered in the US since the beginning of the year – half of them in Puerto Rico, the small unincorporated area of the United States in the Caribbean. In February, the homeless woman Alexa Negrón Luciano was shot dead after a customer complained that Alexa had gone to the ladies’ room of a restaurant. Last month, the transman Yampi Méndez Arocho (19) was murdered in Moca.

Pedro Julio Serrano, a queer activist from Puerto Rico, explained that in the last 15 months eight queer people have been murdered on the small Caribbean island – all cases still unsolved today. NBC quotes the activist with his statement: “They are hunting us!” He told the New York Times:

“This is an epidemic of violence, of anti-L.G.B.T. violence that has resurfaced in Puerto Rico. We haven’t seen this kind and amount of violence for a very long time, I would say 10 years.”

The police announced that the latest crime, based on the situation in which it was found, was a homicide. The exact cause of death must be determined by the autopsy. Currently, two men are being sought who were seen on the last snapchat videos of the later victims. Captain Teddy Morales, chief of the criminal investigation department in Humacao, refused to rashly classify the case as a hate crime. He told New York Times reporters

“I can’t just say this is a hate crime from the scene. We need to know who killed them, why did he kill, and what were the motivations to say this was a hate crime.”

Tori Cooper, Director for Community Engagement of the Transgender Justice Initiative of the Human Rights Campaign, expressed sadness and deep concern. Transgender and non-binary people, and especially women of color, are far too often victims of a toxic mix of transphobia, racism and misogyny, Cooper said.

Update from April 28

Now another case became known: The transgender Penélope Díaz Ramírez (31) was already violently killed in a prison on 13 April. The case was only reported on 27 April, no further details are known yet. Activists subsequently expressed their horror. Pedro Julio Serrano said that there was now no longer any doubt about an epidemic of violence. Tori Cooper was also alarmed:

“Never in my career have I seen so many reports on deaths of members of our transsexual and transgender community in one place in so short a time.”

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