October 15th, 1997 to October 21st, 1997

Guatemalan gay activist murdered

by P.J. Engelbrecht

A political activist and transvestite sex worker widely known as "La Conchita," after her pseudonym of "Maria Conchita Alonso," was murdered on the evening of Friday, Oct. 2 in Guatemala's capital, Guatemala City.

The victim's legal name is being withheld to protect her family. La Conchita, 29, was attacked by gunmen on a street corner where she often plied her trade. According to an eyewitness report transmitted to Outlines by secondary sources, the gunmen drove up in a white pick-up truck and shot Conchita "repeatedly in the stomach," then fled, leaving the body in the street.

The corner where the murder occurred is approximately 100 feet from the office of the HIV/AIDS organization with which La Conchita was closely associated. Such organizations are barely tolerated in Guatemala and other Central American countries, because they are widely believed to be comprised mainly of gays and lesbians-as they are-and because of homophobia and the equation of gayness with AIDS contagion. However, it is unclear whether La Conchita was attacked specifically because of her association with the HIV/AIDS group, because of her activism organizing sex workers and pursuing human rights for queers, or 'simply' because of her sexual orientation and public transvestism.

Because the gunmen used an unmarked white vehicle, Guatemalan sources believe they may be affiliated with the Guatemalan government, either overtly or covertly. "Death squads" linked to the military often use white vans. La Conchita had previously been threatened at gunpoint by police on the street, and she had also interacted with authorities when she identified the bodies of two slain co-workers who were also gay men. After identifying the men, La Conchita told associates "he was convinced that one of the killings was committed by police because of the unique gunfire wounds" from bullets that explode on impact and cause large wounds, rather than small entry holes. Such ammunition is typically used only by the police.

Official and unofficial oppression are rampant and constant in Guatemala, and violence is common. The HIV/AIDS organization with which La Conchita worked "doesn't want [its] name in the press, to avoid retaliation," according to Heather McClure, resource director of the Midwest Human Rights Partnership for Sexual Orientation (MHRPSO). "The [Guatemalan] police can act with incredible impunity."

"In Guatemala, violence is a daily fact of life," says McClure. "There is a culture of fear ... and a culture of threat. ... The [activists] who step forward are very, very courageous and deserve the support of the international community." The Guatemalan Roman Catholic Archbishop's Office of Human Rights "knows the case" of La Conchita but cannot investigate unless the murder falls under the purview of human rights violations. And again, no motives are presently known for the killing, and there are no suspects.

"Due to potential danger to its members, the Guatemalan organization with whom Conchita worked cannot openly press for an investigation and has asked members of the North American Support Association (NASA) to press for an investigation on its behalf," said a MHRPSO press release. Torture, 'disappearances' and assassinations are common, according to McClure, and the lesbigaytrans community is "trying to wedge themselves as far in the corner of the closet as they can." McClure believes that pervasive "homophobia is reinforced by the Church, by the lack of institutional acknowledgement and protection for [groups and individuals]."

"I think families are responsible for isolating, rejecting and endangering the lives of [Guatemalan] gays and lesbians," she continued. "Many people in Guatemala do not have access to the kind of knowledge [about HIV/AIDS] we have in urban areas of the U.S. ... Public health campaigns do not talk about ... that [HIV/AIDS is really about behavior [not sexual orientation].

"Many [Guatemalan men] are actively bisexual but do not identify as gay," McClure says, attributing their reticence to the social climate. "Yes, there is outright violence ... by state-sponsored actors ... by families, churches, strangers."

As a member of an MHRPSO delegation that visited Guatemala to investigate human rights abuses in 1996, McClure was personally acquainted with La Conchita. En La Vida and Outlines covered the 1996 trip; a 1997 delegation was pictured with Guatemalan activists in the Oct. 1997 En La Vida, though many of the Guatemalans could not reveal their faces, again, for fear of retaliation.

MHRPSO is affiliated with the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance, a human rights group formerly known as "Travelers and Immigrants Aid" and founded by Jane Addams. The group regularly provides expert witnesses in immigration courts for gays seeking U.S. asylum from persecution in such Central American countries as Guatemala. At least nine gay or lesbian Guatemalans have sought U.S. asylum in the past five years, according to McClure; so far, of the nine, only two lesbians have been granted asylum. Other cases are on appeal or remain pending. Losing such a case may lead to deportation.

One HIV+ gay Guatemalan living illegally in Chicago has not filed for asylum because he would lose access to his protease inhibitor drug regime if deported. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has set an absolute deadline for asylum applications by people residing in the U.S. for over a year: applications must be filed by March 31, 1998. MHRPSO urges all legal and illegal residents who might qualify for asylum to seek legal counsel before contacting the INS.

MHRPSO urges individuals to call for an investigation of La Conchita's murder, particularly by writing to the Guatemalan President: Sr. Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen, Presidente Constitucional de la República, Guatemala, Guatemala, fax 011-502-221-4537. Names and addresses of Guatemalan officials, and additional information about human rights abuses in Central America, can be obtained from MHRPSO, care of Heartland. Copies of all such letters should be forwarded to the Guatemalan Embassy here: Ambassador Pedro Lamport, Embassy of Guatemala, 2220 R St, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008 (fax 202-745-1908) and to the Heartland Alliance, 202 S. LaSalle St., Ste. 1818, Chicago 60604, attn: Heather or Betsy (fax 312-629-4550).

Guatemala (pop. approx. 8.5 million) is located on the Pacific coast of the Central American isthmus, bordered by Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The locals speak Spanish and over two dozen distinct Mayan tongues. Although the small nation is now governed as a constitutional republic, decades of bloody civil war between military dictatorships and guerrillas have succeeded battles earlier in the century between Guatemalan natives and North American-owned banana plantations that exploited the campesinos (peasant workers). The Guatemalan government has 'redistributed' the plantation lands, but the severe repression of the indigenous Mayan peoples continues, says McClure.

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