Santiago Carvajal is now the 78th person in the media to be murdered since 2001
Beloved transgender television presenter, Santiago Carvajal, died on Saturday (6 July)in Honduras after she was shot on Friday.
She died at Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula, the Central American country’s second most important city, according to El Pais.
Carvajal presented La Galaxia de Santi, a critically-acclaimed magazine show on a local television channel.
The social media star created well-received reports on LGBTI news.
Strangers shot Carvajal as she walked with friends near a television studio in Puerto Cortés, local media reported.
Her friends told Telesur TV she had received death threats the day before the attack.
Police have launched an investigation.
Despite the killers shooting in broad daylight, police reportedly have no leads.
This is the 78th murder of a media personality in Honduras since 2001.
The national commissioner for human rights last May said 95% of these crimes had gone unpunished.
Fly high Santi
Many fans left messages of love on La Galaxia de Santi’s Facebook.
‘Fly, fly high santi and keep shining from the sky’ one user wrote. ‘May God receive you in his holy bosom … Thank you for so much joy’.
Honduras outlaws discrimination against LGBTI people under Article 321 of the Penal Code.
But, in 2005, a change in the constitution banned same-sex union marriages or unions.
What’s more, LGBTI people face high rates of violence.
According to a local NGO, 264 LGBT people were murdered in the country between 2009 and 2017. About half were gay men.
Attackers stabbed a gay couple to death in their home in Honduras last year.
Multiple people attacked ex-gay bar owner, Jorge Sarmiento, 42, and his 80-year-old partner, Gerard Argiud, in their Atlántida home, according to reports.
In April 2017, unknown assailants strangled a trans woman, who also performed in drag, to death.
Sherlyn Montoya’s body was wrapped in sacks in a small alley in the northern part of the capital Tegucigalpa.
She was just 29.
by Rik Glauert
Source – Gay Star News
