[WHRD Alert] MEXICO / Killing of trans defender Katia Daniela Medina Rafael in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco

On Saturday, 9 August 2025, trans activist and defender Katia Daniela Medina was found lifeless with signs of violence on the road leading to Hacienda La Catrina, in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco.

Katia was the director of the Zapotlán Trans Collective and was a highly recognized defender of trans people’s rights in the Southern region of Jalisco.

The transfemicide of Katia took place two days prior to the State Day against Hate Crimes and in the context of the launch of an initiative to classify hate crimes and transfemicides as crimes based on gender identity, orientation, or expression in the local Penal Code.

Collectives and organizations that defend the rights of LGBTTTIQ+ people and communities, as well as municipal authorities, have made statements regarding the transfemicide of Katia, and have expressed their outrage at the media coverage by some local media outlets for spreading messages that revictimize, violate the defender’s sex-gender identity, incite hatred, and perpetuate stigma and prejudice.

Given these events, it is important to highlight that the situation of risk for trans defenders is particularly alarming; based on data from our Mesoamerican Registry of Attacks against Women Defenders, just between 2020 and 2024, we registered 32 transfemicides of women defenders in the region, accounting for nearly half (40%) of the 80 killings of women defenders registered in the region during the period. 15 of these transfemicides were against trans activists and defenders in Mexico.

The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico and IM -Defensoras denounce and condemn the transfemicide of Katia Daniela Medina.

We make an urgent call to the Jalisco government to conduct a comprehensive and exhaustive investigation of the events; to approach the investigation without revictimizing or infringing on the defender’s sex-gender identity; and not to rule out the possibility that this crime was motivated by her activism or by prejudice against her gender expression or identity.

We express our solidarity with Katia Daniela’s family, with her sisters in the Zapotlán Trans Collective, and with the LGBTIQ+ communities in Mexico.

More alerts:

Honduras [WHRD Alert] HONDURAS / On Election Day, we remain vigilant of any situation of violence against women defenders and their communities
México [WHRD Alert] MEXICO / Feminicide in Chiapas of searching woman defender Yerli Yaritza, member of the Madres Buscadoras de Chiapas collective
México [WHRD Alert] TUNISIA / Government temporarily suspends activities of at least 14 human rights organizations and over 600 are under threat of suspension.