Rubén Estrada, one of the activists | Photo: Facebook/OBITUARIO TAXQUEÑO
Authorities found the bodies of three LGBTI activists shot dead in Mexico on Sunday (17 June).
They found Rubén Estrada, Roberto Vega, and Carlos Uriel López in Taxco, a city within the Mexican state of Guerrero.
The Washington Blade reports the men were at a nightclub in the early hours of Sunday when ‘a group of men tried to extort money from them’.
They refused and the group of men returned, forcibly placing the three activists in a van before driving away. One local paper showed photos of their deaths — they appeared to be fatally shot in the head. Another said they were tortured before their deaths.
‘The loss is for a society that demands equality’
All three men were active in Mexico’s LGBTI community.
Estrada, 35, organized Taxco’s annual Pride march as well as a gay beauty contest. López was his partner.
‘We are sad, depressed,’ Gaby Soberanis of the LGBTI group Diversidad Guerrero told the Washington Blade.
‘They were young. They had a future ahead of them. The entire state’s LGBTI rights movement is sad, is in mourning.’
Lol Kin Castañeda, a lesbian activist and a member of the Mexico City Constituent Assembly, tweeted about their deaths. She also tagged Guerrero Gov. Héctor Astudillo.
Taxco, Guerrero asesinaron a mis compañeros activistas LGBTTTI Rubén Estrada, Roberto Vega y Carlos Uriel López. Mis condolencias a sus familiares y amistades.
La pérdida es para una sociedad que exige igualdad, libertad y fin a la violencia.
Exigimos justicia @HectorAstudillo— Lol Kin Castañeda Ba (@lolkincast) June 18, 2018
The tweet reads: ‘The loss is for a society that demands equality, freedom and an end to violence. We demand justice.’
Activists often condemn anti-LGBTI stances and violence in Mexico.
Earlier this year, a gay couple from California were shot while on vacation in the country.
Mexico was also one of the deadliest countries, along with Brazil, for trans men and women in 2016. That same year, a congressional committee rejected a same-sex marriage bill.
Most recently, FIFA is opening disciplinary hearings against the country for their fans using anti-gay slurs at the World Cup.
