Verônica and her transgender model's hell in Brazil. How far can it go?

Picture composition by Neon Cunha first issued on FB 

Caption: I'm Verônica, but it's a fight of all of us.

By Sergio Viula

Her name is Veronica Bolina. She is a Brazilian transgender woman. This week social networks were taken by surprise when her photos after arrest were shared.

Veronica got involved in a row in her apartment building. Neighbors called te police, whose duty should have been that of taking her to the police station for legal procedures and prosecution if the case really requires that. No so quckly.

Instead, she was put in a masculine jail, despiste her female gender. Such a thing, by itself must have exposed her to rape, beating and other forms of violence by other inmates.

Not only that, but prision supervisors or watchmen are known to inflict humiliation on prisioners, especially when they are transcender or gay.

For reasons that still await clarification, Veronica bit the ear of one of the watchmen. The only imagens we have of her after being jailed were taken in the penitentiary yard. In the photo her face is destroyed, her breasts are naked, she is isolated from the rest of the group as if she were positioned for a sadistic photo.

Brazilian transgender people are constantly subjected to all kinds of societal and state violence. The military police, a force inherited from dictatorship times, is the most violent of all forces, sometimes surpassing the worst crooks they are supposed to fight. And this is the police who acts on streets.

We do need to draw the world's attention... for the sake of those who have no one to appeal to.

Do I sound too dramatic? Read The Advocate. They issued an importante article about fundamentalism and homophobia/transphobia in the Brazilian Congress.

UN, Human Rights Campaign, OEA, Humano Rights Watch, etc, please, give some thought to this case. Violence against trans people is so overwhelming that Veronica herself denied being a victim of torture. Absolutely horrified in isolation, what else could we expect from her?