'A watershed moment' Transfemicide becomes a crime in Mexico City

When the trans sex worker Paola Buenrostro was killed by a client in Mexico City, her friend Kenya Cuevas grabbed the man to stop him fleeing and recorded the scene as police arrived amid sirens, screams and red and blue lights.

- Thomas Graham

Despite the footage and witness testimonies, a judge considered there was insufficient evidence to hold the man and released him after 48 hours, since which time he has been on the run.

That night in 2016 turned Cuevas into an activist. And last week, after years of campaigning, Mevico City passed a law making transfemicide a crime with a prison sentence of up to 70 years a "watershed moment" in one of Latin America's deadliest countries for trans people.

"For the first time, we can feel represented before the law, and that violence against us really carries a severe punishment," said Cuevas at a gathering on Sunday to recognise the victory. "For the first time, I can feel some satisfaction, some peace, after all these long years of work."

The law, named in honour of Buenrostro, was passed almost unanimously in the state congress.