Dear John,

In June, WOLA will be celebrating Pride Month by uplifting the voices of our LGBTQ+ partners in the region. Levels of homophobia and transphobia in Latin America remain high, with Peru recently issuing a decree stating that transgender identity is a mental health problem. And just a few weeks ago, in Argentina 3 lesbian women died after being attacked with a molotov cocktail. I responded through a video statement below.

In other news, Colombian investigative journalist Gonzalo Guillén, who specializes in corruption, was recently in Washington D.C. Together we recorded a podcast in Spanish that you can listen to here.

This week we also hosted Paula Litvachky, Executive Director of CELS, a renowned human rights organization and a longstanding WOLA partner. In a public event she discussed Argentina’s economic crisis and warned of efforts to curb dissent in the early days of Javier Milei’s presidency. 

In the meantime, all eyes will be on Mexico on June 2nd, with the country set to elect its first female president. Don't miss my colleague Stephanie Brewer live on Al Jazeera this Sunday at 10pm ET (8pm Mexico City).

WOLA will continue to speak up for the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community throughout the Americas. We thank you for standing with us.

Best,

Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli

Director for the Andes

“There was a certain level of attention and progress that was possible for a while on the Ayotzinapa case in particular during this government — certainly there wasn’t that type of dialogue and collaboration and attention given in general to search collectives. So that’s the context, but what has happened, especially in the last year to year and a half, is that the López Obrador administration seems to have decided that it no longer wants to pay the political costs of facing this crisis.”

Stephanie Brewer

Director for Mexico

– The Hill, Mexico’s ‘searchers’ seek the disappeared — and political support

“Currently nine out of ten crimes go un-investigated or un-reported in the country, so if you have a system that is incapable of holding criminal groups accountable for their actions, that is not investigating the collusion that you have between government officials and criminal groups, then those crimes continue to perpetuate because there's really no consequence to the actions." 

Maureen Meyer

Vice President for Programs

– Al Jazeera, What’s behind the rise in political violence in Mexico?

“The Bukele government has hidden or ignored these deaths, which could be considered extrajudicial executions because they happened in custody."

Ana María Méndez Dardón

Director for Central America

– El Faro, US Tries Not to Offend Bukele in Annual Human Rights Report

In April 2022, WOLA launched its one-of-a-kind Border Oversight Database, which documents hundreds of reports of human rights violations and abuses against migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

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