Legislator Enrique Sanchez, of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), said he will push for a law to criminalize hate crimes. “When a trans girl is murdered here in the street, in the statistics it appears as a common murder of between two men because it is the registry sex of that person. I mean, you do not see that crime for what it is: a hate crime, a crime against that woman, for being trans,” he said.
He assured that the text of the bill is being worked with civil society organizations and experts. However, they have yet to discuss the proposed punishment.
“It’s an aggravating factor. As femicide is an aggravating factor to homicide because it is a homicide for being a woman. The hate crime is an aggravating factor in homicide because it is a homicide for being what it is, for being an Afro-descendant, for being a migrant, for being gay, for being a lesbian. So, they are aggravating the penalties of common crimes and then they generally have a greater range of punishment, but we have not yet come to discuss that part,” he explained.
