10 years after Paola Buenrostro was killed, activists say justice is still being denied
Key Takeaways
- Protesters demanded Buenrostro's killing be treated as transfemicide.
- Arturo 'N' was placed in pre-trial detention following his arrest.
- A hearing on Friday will determine whether he is bound over for trial.
Activists damaged Mexico City’s prosecutor’s office after the killing was classified as aggravated homicide, as the suspect awaits a decision on whether he will face trial.
Nearly 10 years after Paola Buenrostro was killed, anger over how her case is being prosecuted spilled into Mexico City’s Prosecutor's Office for the Investigation of the Crime of Femicide on Tuesday.
Protesters damaged objects and left graffiti inside the building after a judge classified Buenrostro's killing as aggravated homicide rather than transfemicide.
Messages including "Trans lives matter" and "Transphobes. Paola lives" were written inside the prosecutor's office following the proceedings.
Arturo 'N', named as the alleged perpetrator, was ordered to remain in pre-trial detention. A decision on whether he will be bound over for trial is expected on Friday.
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Activist Kenya Cuevas said the demonstrations would continue, accusing authorities of failing to properly address the case.
"What happened today is the rage of 10 years that we have built together. Nothing was achieved today. The Prosecutor's Office failed to guarantee our gender identity, not even to argue for it at a hearing. So we are going to continue with these demonstrations, at least until we are received by Bertha Alcalde, [Mexico City] prosecutor, and by the city government, because we are no longer going to allow this kind of omission. It was 10 years of struggle, 10 years of deaths, 10 years of bloodshed so that today we are, at this moment, in the same place as in 2016," she said.
Protesters objected to prosecutors bringing the case as aggravated homicide rather than transfemicide. Buenrostro's case was recognised as transfemicide by the then Federal District Human Rights Commission in 2019.
Cuevas, who is a witness in the case, also said the Public Prosecutor identified her in the case file as "a man, as a sex worker" and used a name that had not appeared on her identity documents since 2016.
Arturo 'N' was arrested on August 31, 2026, in Nicolas Romero in the State of Mexico, almost a decade after Buenrostro was killed on September 30, 2016.
According to the investigation, Buenrostro, a trans woman and sex worker, was shot twice after entering Arturo 'N''s vehicle.
Cuevas and other sex workers detained the suspect and handed him over to authorities. He was later released after a judge found insufficient evidence to bind him over for trial.
Following his latest arrest, Arturo 'N' was placed in pre-trial detention. Friday's hearing will determine whether he is bound over for trial.
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This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
