Violence against LGBT community continues unabated

There appears to be no improvement at all in the situation of violence faced by the LGBTQI community in El Salvador, especially the trans community.  The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called for an investigation into the number of murders of transgender individuals in El Salvador.

From a Reuters report:

An uptick in deadly violence against transgender women in El Salvador prompted the United Nations on Friday to call for an investigation into crimes against sexual minorities in the conservative Central American country. 

So far this year, seven transgender women have been killed in El Salvador, according to the Geneva-based Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Local LGBT organizations put the death toll at 17 through the first four months of the year. 

In 2016, at least 25 transgender women were killed over the course of the entire year, according to the local organizations. 

Leading transgender activist Karla Avelar said local gang members have demanded money and made threats that forced her to flee her home six times in the past two years.
Avelar, who leads a local trans-rights organization, said in an interview she has no faith that local authorities can protect her from gangs who routinely demand extortion payments from residents and businesses.

An recent overview of the situation is contained a March 2017 report from the Office of the PDDH (in Spanish).  The report details the murders of trans individuals including human rights activists in the community.   In addition, the report proclaims their have been grave deficiencies in the attention given to cases of violence against the LGBT community and a lack of attention to their complaints by the attorney general's office.