# Mexican sex workers storm Mexico City judicial building **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099 "2025-01-18T12:47:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099/1 "2025-01-18T12:47:11Z")
I have not seen this reported anywhere but on social media but; > **[@seditionist.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/seditionist.bsky.social/post/3lfx4k3yub22s)** > > \[Mexico City, Mexico\] > > Following the attempted murder of a trans woman. Cops just let the alleged perp go. So actionists from the Mexican sex workers union stormed the judicial building. > > Via Ghost of Durruti > [@](#): > > Following the attempted murder of a trans woman. Cops just let the alleged perp go. So actionists from the Mexican sex workers union stormed the judicial building. If you can’t see the video, there are a lot of women with hammers and other blunt objects, mostly smashing up glass walls, doors and tabletops, as well as computer equipment. There are a couple of other videos in the Bluesky thread including one (allegedly) posted by a building employee looking on ([titled “Una dia mas en la ofi”](https://bsky.app/profile/calumonwheels.bsky.social/post/3lfxi4lwd5k2w)). The only article I’ve found is in Spanish so make of it what you will: > **[Activistas destrozan instalaciones del Poder Judicial en la CDMX - La Prensa...](https://oem.com.mx/la-prensa/metropoli/activistas-destrozan-instalaciones-del-poder-judicial-en-la-cdmx-21172261)** > > Puertas, mobiliario y paredes fueron vandalizadas por colectivos I’d say I was surprised that the American media haven’t picked this up but I’m not, really. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099/2 "2025-01-18T14:47:17Z")
TIL that in Mexico, “femicide” (feminicidio) is legally different from “homicide”. Apparently, the case against the attempted murderer of a trans woman has been in limbo because some judge said the accused couldn’t be held for either? The Bluesky post is a bit misleading. If you read the above article it looks like the cops and prosecutors did everything right. The suspect was arrested and charged in 2022. It was the courts that released him because they didn’t believe the charge of attempted femicide could be applied in this case. Which essentially sends the message that transgender people don’t deserve justice. I’d be pissed, too. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099/3 "2025-01-18T15:17:04Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > TIL that in Mexico, “femicide” (feminicidio) is legally different from “homicide”. Apparently, the case against the attempted murderer of a trans woman has been in limbo because some judge said the accused couldn’t be held for either? That sounded insane to me, so I looked it up, and my gut was right - this is not true. Mexico does have a crime called Femicide. It does _not_ mean “murder of a woman”; rather, Femicide is “murder of a woman _due to her being a woman_”. So kind of like an all in one charge that represents a US murder charge plus a hate crime rider. If you murder a woman _because of her gender_, same logic as hate crimes in the US, you get charged with Femicide. If you murder a woman for any other reason, the crime is a regular Homicide. Does that distinction make sense? It’s not that murder of a woman is a separate crime than murder of a man; it’s that murder of a woman _due to her sex_ is considered a special crime. Not sure how that applies in this case or to this judge’s interpretation, but I will look into that next. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099/4 "2025-01-18T15:30:27Z")
I really am finding very little about this story. I found claims online that the protests are over the murder of Samantha Gomes Fonseca but as far as I can tell she was actually killed? I do see articles from the last couple years that show that trans murders, and a lack of response from the police, are both big problems in Mexico. So it does make sense, but I could not identify the specific (attempted?) murder that prompted this protest, nor could I find a description of what this judge supposedly ruled. It’s very possible that the perp was let off on one technicality or another; but I seriously doubt that the technicality was “this wasn’t a homicide or a Femicide”, since _Femicide_ is equivalent to _homicide with a specific hate crime rider_. And homicide _does_ apply to women. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099/5 "2025-01-18T15:34:24Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > So it does make sense, but I could not identify the specific (attempted?) murder that prompted this protest It’s in the linked article in the OP. Natalia Lane was the victim in the case and also the leader of the sex worker protest that trashed the justice building. “ Three years ago, Natalia Lane was the victim of an assault on January 16 when Alejandro “N” apparently **tried to kill her** in a hotel near Metro Portales. The events were classified as attempted femicide by the competent authorities, which motivated the capital’s Prosecutor’s Office to arrest the accused on **January 21, 2022.** Likewise, the alleged aggressor was placed in preventive detention by a Control Judge and was sent to the Eastern Prison. In June 2024, a federal judge determined that the then-detained man’s situation would be changed to a precautionary measure with a house arrest order. Therefore, the activist **denounces the lack of due process** , which has not begun since Alejandro “N” was arrested: “the oral trial has not begun and there is fear that he will be released, so we will continue to demonstrate without falling into provocations.”“ ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-sex-workers-storm-mexico-city-judicial-building/1013099/6 "2025-01-18T15:40:18Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The only article I’ve found is in Spanish so make of it what you will: Oooh, I should have read your article first. It gives the lady’s name, and also describes the situation in a little more detail. > [@](#): > > The facts were described as an attempt at femicide by the competent authorities, which motivated the capital’s Prosecutor’s Office to arrest the accused on January 21, 2022. In the same way the alleged aggressor was imposed preventive detention by a Control Judge and sent to the Oriente Prison. > > In June 2024 a federal judge ruled that the situation of the then inmate changed to precautionary half with a house arrest order. Therefore the activist denounces the lack of due process, which has not begun since the arrest of Alejandro “N”: “he has not started the oral trial and there is a fear that he will be released, so we will continue to demonstrate without falling into provocations.” So the victim was Natalia Lane and the attempt happened 3 years ago. According to _this_ article, the perp was locked up for 2 years while awaiting trial, and the judge ordered that since he was waiting for so long he should be moved to house arrest? And the protestors are mad that the trial hasn’t happened yet. I can’t find anything about the case being dismissed or anything having to do with this being a homicide vs a Femicide, though… Eta: ah, we simulposted. So the problem is that there hasn’t been a trial, not that the case is being dismissed for being a trans homicide. Whether the trial being delayed for so long is due to the victim being Trans is a different question, and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if such evidence came out.