In Chile, Wladimir Sepulveda, victim of a hate crime, has died after lying in a coma for 6 months, the Washington Blade informs. One of the country's LGBTQ rights groups, the Movement for Homosexual Liberation and Integration (Movihl by its Spanish initials), told the reporter that they have tracked 26 reported deaths in the gay and trans community in the country since 2002. One of those deaths, Daniel Zamudio's, led to the government's move to enact a hate crimes law, something the community had long agitated for. Yet although the law is on the books, advocates say it wasn't taken into consideration by the judge when he sentenced a man who confessed to attacking Sepulveda.
The new president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, is being asked to strengthen the hate crimes statute.
The article in the Washington Blade lists the names of other Chilean LGBTQ people that have lost their lives, or suffered in recent attacks.
In the article in El Comercio, the reporter relates that the 21 year old Sepulveda was attacked by at least four men the night he was beaten. Sepulveda's family is joining Movihl's calls for justice in this case.
The photo of a march held 2 years ago that accompanies the article says "Justice for Daniel, so that never again [does a death like this occur.]" It is sad to note that even with laws on the books, we are all not safe from violence and homophobia.