It’s an earthquake in Mexico. The body of Jesus Ociel Baena, an icon of non-binarity, was found Monday in a house in Aguascalientes, in the north of the country, next to that of his companion. The authorities assure that his partner killed him before killing himself. Jesus Ociel Baena is the very first person to have obtained a non-binary passport in Mexico, where the mention of sex is absent. But who really was Jesus Ociel Baena? Why is his death causing such a stir in Mexico? 20 minutes looks into this murder, thanks to the insight of Flora Bolter, political scientist and co-director of the LGBTI + Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation.
What do we know about his death?
Authorities found the body of Jesus Ociel Baena on Monday in a two-story house in Aguascalientes, a state in northern Mexico. The body of his companion, Dorian Herrera, was found next to him. The prosecution assures that it is a murder of a spouse followed by suicide. Iel [pronom utilisé pour les personnes non-binaires] was killed and “subsequently his partner (…) took his own life,” said the state prosecutor of Aguascalientes, Jesus Figueroa, on the Milenio news channel. The investigators also assure that no one else was present in the accommodation and that, therefore, they cannot “establish the intervention of a third person”.
Jesus Ociel Baena received 20 lacerations from a razor blade, including a fatal one to the jugular. The authorities’ thesis, that of spousal murder, is however doubted by many queer activists in the country. Indeed, Baena revealed that he was under police protection at the end of July, in the face of “multiple attacks” and “death threats” which abounded on his social networks. “Jesus Ocial Baena was officially under police protection but was this protection really applied? », asks Flora Bolter, political scientist and co-director of the LGBT+ Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation.
Who was Jesus Ociel Baena?
Eternal rainbow-colored fan in hand, flamboyant lipstick and heels, Jesus Ociel Baena was an icon of non-binarity. They were the very first person to receive a gender-neutral passport, that is to say where sex is not mentioned, from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, last May. Icon of non-binarity, a gender identity where we recognize ourselves as neither man nor woman, Jesus Ociel Baena was 38 years old. Since October 2022, they were the first person to serve as a non-binary magistrate in Mexico. And even throughout Latin America, according to the newspaper El País. “He is an example of success and someone iconic. Jesus Ociel Baena not only had a role as a legal expert, with all the social recognition that that implies, but also managed to obtain a legal victory for his case and, more broadly, for LGBT+ people,” underlines Flora Bolter.
In the columns of Mexican newspapers, Jesus Ociel Baena is nicknamed “magistrade”, in order to avoid the masculine “magistrado” as well as the feminine “magistrada”. “The murder of which Jesus Ociel Baena was a victim indicates all the ambivalence of a person who benefits from a recognized status in the public sphere and among the general public with, on the other hand, one of the countries with the most hate crimes and murders in general,” underlines Flora Bolter.
Why is his death causing such a stir in Mexico?
Many LGBT+ activists do not believe in the theory of spousal murder. From the evening of his death, thousands of LGBT+ activists demonstrated in the streets of Mexico City, shouting “crime of passion, national lie”. Some of them then went to the windows of the National Palace to demand “justice”. Other mobilizations spread across the country, notably in Monterrey, Puebla and Aguascalientes, Baena’s hometown. “There is great mistrust among the LGBT+ community in Mexico regarding police work on hate crimes. Many collectives have been set up to fight against femicide and hate crimes,” recalls Flora Bolter. “Minorities have the feeling that the police are, at best, completely powerless or, at worst, hate the LGBT+ community,” she adds.
The president’s spokesperson reacted on X (formerly Twitter) to demand an investigation carried out from “an intersectional and gender perspective”. “But the police and judicial culture does not seem to put much will into solving and prosecuting these crimes. We see a strong inertia because basically there is a fairly strong social acceptance of these hate crimes in the country,” regrets the co-director of the LGBT+ Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. A sad observation which is reflected in the figures. According to the LGBT advocacy organization Letra S, around 90 queer people are killed each year in Mexico. And in 94% of cases, the murderers go unpunished.