Over the past two decades Latin America has taken the lead in legislative rights for LGBTs, yet there are more killings of LGBT people throughout Latin America than there are in the 12 countries and territories in Africa and Asia, where homosexuality is punishable by death. Eimhin O’Reilly reports on a brutal ‘anti-pink tide’ that’s sweeping across Latin America.

Francisca Ferreira de Vasconcelos showing a photo of her murdered daughter, Dandara dos Santos.

On February 15, 2017, Dandara dos Santos was dragged from her home in the outskirts of Fortaleza, a sprawling seaside city in Brazil’s northeast, by five men. Her attackers were so sure that they would get away with their actions, they filmed their attack on a mobile phone. For five long minutes, they can be seen subjecting Dandara to verbal abuse and physical torture.

Eventually, the cameraman can be heard urging the men to “kill the faggot”. In spite of her pleas for mercy, Dandara is then dragged across the rough cobblestones and tossed limply into a wheelbarrow. The video ends there.

Her body was later found in a nearby alleyway. She had been shot twice in the head, which they then crushed with a rock. Dandara was murdered because she was trans.

The video was shared widely by LGBT+ organisations throughout Brazil and beyond. As it went viral, public outrage grew and Dandara became a symbol of the virulent transphobia that still grips the region, her face plastered across posters, t-shirts and banners. Eventually, the five men featured in the video were found and put on trial. After a lengthy legal battle, the killers were sentenced to a collective term of 83 years.