As the LGBT+ community of Oberá-Misiones, we want to publicly share our voices and feelings about the murder of 20-year-old Ema Portillo (self-identified as Alejo), which occurred in the town of Azara, Misiones-Argentina.

According to journalists and forensics police, the body of "Ema" was found by their family in Lot 200, naked, and with 42 puncture wounds - six of them "penetrating." About 700 meters from his body, his family also found his bicycle and a backpack hidden inside a trunk, along with a butcher knife.

The case is being handled by magistrate judge Miguel Angel Faría of the Cuatro de Apóstoles Investigating Court and the prosecutor of Investigation 4, Silvia María Barronis.

Given the circumstances, we believe it is important to underline that the murder of Alejo Portillo was a hate crime. Alejo was stabbed for being gay, because of their orientation and gender identity, and for being a person of non-heteronormative identity.

His murder is the result of the gender violence suffered by the LGTBIQ+ community in Misiones, made invisible by the cis-heteronormative political, media and legal landscape.

The death of Alejo, like that of Evelyn Rojas (a trans woman who was beaten to death in Posadas) and Fabian Kreischer (a gay pastor from Oberá who was stabbed to death), are hate crimes that embody the discrimination, prejudice, hate and rejection of the identities and expressions of the LGTBIQ+ community in Misiones.