Judge Reclassifies Mexico’s First Recognized Transfemicide as Femicide

The killing of Paola Buenrostro, recognized as Mexico’s first documented transfemicide, will now be prosecuted as aggravated femicide rather than aggravated homicide. A Mexico City judge ordered the change on Friday, a decision that followed protests by trans activists.

The Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office said the legal classification had changed because the case involved a crime committed on the basis of gender. The accused, identified as Arturo ‘N’, was charged with femicide and will remain in pretrial detention. He was arrested on Aug. 31 in the State of Mexico under a warrant obtained in 2016, when the case was initially treated as aggravated homicide.

The prosecutor’s office said the new classification would allow Buenrostro’s death to be investigated and tried from a gender perspective, taking into account the circumstances and gender-related reasons connected to the crime. It had previously said the case could not be prosecuted as transfemicide because that offense did not exist in Mexican law in 2016. Femicide, however, has been defined as a crime in Mexico City since 2011.

The change came after activists criticized the initial hearing, saying Buenrostro had been identified as a man. Kenya Cuevas, a trans activist and Buenrostro’s friend who has led the campaign for justice, welcomed the decision. “Today is a historic day for trans women in Mexico,” she told reporters.

The case has remained emblematic. Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission recognized it in 2019 as the first documented transfemicide and said authorities had failed to respect Buenrostro’s gender identity. The prosecutor’s office publicly apologized in 2021 for its handling of the case. In 2024, Buenrostro’s name was used to promote the Paola Buenrostro Law, which classified the offense in the capital.

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Today is a historic day for trans women in Mexico.