In a video shared on social media, Lane said that she was attacked while staying at a hotel in the Portales area of southern Mexico City. Authorities have begun an investigation, and the city’s Council to Prevent and Eliminate Descrimination demanded that the attack be investigated as attempted transfemicide.

Text by María Ruiz and Daniela Pastrana, originally published January 16, 2022.

Photo: Courtesy.

Translated by Elysse DaVega for Pie de Página in English.

MEXICO CITY– Trans activist Natalia Lane was stabbed on Sunday, January 16, in a hotel near Mexico City’s Portales subway station.

Lane posted a video on her social media in which she recounted the attack during her stay at the Hotel Diana, on Calzada de Tlalpan.

«I was stabbed in the back of my neck, I’m feeling horrible (…) I have a really bad cut on my hand. Somebody please help me!» the activist said.

She also asked authorities to locate the person responsible.

After the attack, Mexico City’s local government announced that they have requested assistance from the city’s Special Prosecution Office for the Investigation of Femicide, the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Descrimination –of which Lane is an assemblywoman– and the General Administration of Sexual Diversity and Human Rights.

«Natalia is in the emergency room at Hospital Balbuena, where she is with Ulises Pineda, diversity coordinator at the General Administration of Sexual Diversity and Human Rights, as well as Rocío Suárez, director of the Support Center for Trans Identities,» said the Ministry of Social Inclusion and Wellbeing.

Mexico City’s General Prosecution Office of Justice has announced that it is currently investigating three cases of assault with a sharp weapon, «one of them against a member of the LGBTTTIQ+ community,» and that this case was an attempted femicide.

In an informational flyer posted just past noon, the prosecution office said that «one of their priorities is to assist the victim from a gender-sensitive perspective and with a specialized approach.»

COPRED: It was attempted transfemicide

Mexico City’s Council to Prevent and Eliminate Descrimination (COPRED), of which Natalia has been a member of the advisory assembly since May 2020, condemned the attack and said that it should be investigated as attempted transfemicide.

Already in 2022, two transfemicides have occurred in Mexico.

The first took place within hours of the new year, in the city of Puebla. Police found a trans woman with her feet and hands tied and her face covered by a pair of pants in the El Girasol neighborhood. Marks on her body indicated that she had been beaten and strangled.

Five days later, the body of Dayana Karrington was found. Karrington earned a living as a stylist in the municipality of Cárdenas, Tabasco. Her body was found in a bare lot, disfigured by an assault.

Assaults on the rise

In 2021, assaults on trans people increased exponentially in the state of Jalisco, where a young woman was attacked with acid, and a couple was attacked with bats in the Parque Rojo in Guadalajara.

In the nation’s capital, activists achieved a public apology from the Office of Mexico City Prosecutors for not investigating the transfemicide of Paola Buenrostro, which occurred in December 2019, with gender-sensitive perspective and due diligence.

Hate crimes against the LGBTI+ community are a product of social stigma, especially when it comes to transfemicide.

An investigation undertaken by Milenio newspaper, based on records requests, revealed that a total of 283 hate crimes occurred in Mexico between 2010 and 2020. Out of these 283, Mexico City’s prosecution office has investigated the highest number, with 133 preliminary investigations and 67 cases filed.

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