SinViolencia LGBT Rights Network Documents 248 Murders of LGBTQ+ People in Latin America in 2025
On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, the regional civil rights coalition Red Sin Violencia LGBTIQ+ released its annual report on lethal violence against LGBTQ+ individuals across Latin America and the Caribbean during 2025. Across ten monitored nations, human rights monitors documented the deaths of at least 248 people—an average of nearly five homicides per week.
According to the annual report by the SinViolencia LGBTIQ+ network, Colombia accounted for the highest number of recorded murders, with 96 victims (39% of the regional total). Mexico ranked second with 60 victims (24%), followed by Honduras with 39 (16%). Monitors recorded 30 deaths in Guatemala (12%), 14 in Ecuador (6%), four in Peru, two each in Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, and one in El Salvador. In Nicaragua, no verified incidents were recorded during the period.
Transgender women and cisgender gay men constituted the vast majority of victims, accounting for 81% of all documented cases. Monitors recorded 102 murders of trans women (41%) and 100 of gay men (40%). In addition, the victims included 21 cisgender lesbians, eight bisexual men, seven transgender men, and ten individuals with other diverse identities. Approximately 61% of the victims were between 21 and 40 years of age, with the 31-to-35 age bracket experiencing the highest concentration (52 individuals). Ten victims were adolescents or young adults between 16 and 20 years old. The fatalities also included 18 community leaders and human rights defenders, five of whom had previously reported receiving direct death threats.
The document details marked variations in the circumstances and methods of the attacks. Roughly 73% of the homicides occurred in urban areas, while 20% took place in rural settings. Firearms were used in 43% of cases, and sharp or bladed weapons in 23%. Notably, 57 attacks on trans women occurred in public thoroughfares and open spaces, predominantly involving firearms (45 cases). Conversely, gay men were far more frequently murdered in private residences, with knives and edged objects serving as the primary mechanism (36 cases). At least 38 homicides (15%) showed indications of involvement by organized crime syndicates. Rights monitors also identified five cases bearing the hallmarks of extrajudicial killings by law enforcement officers in Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru, including two deaths occurring while victims were in state custody.
The report devotes special attention to the performance of judicial and investigative authorities. As of March 2026, of the 248 documented murders, 172 remained under preliminary investigation, 25 had proceeded to trial, two had been archived, and the procedural status of 49 was unknown. Only seven cases had culminated in convictions: six in Colombia and one in Honduras. The authors caution that the published figures are preliminary and understate the true scope of violence, noting that most countries in the region lack standardized official state reporting on crimes disaggregated by sexual orientation and gender identity, leaving substantial numbers of cases unrecognized or uninvestigated.
The Red Sin Violencia LGBTIQ+ network unites independent non-governmental human rights organizations and monitoring observatories across Latin America and the Caribbean, including Colombia Diversa in Colombia, Letra S in Mexico, Cattrachas in Honduras, ADESPROC Libertad GLBT in Bolivia, Fundación PAKTA in Ecuador, Asociación Lambda in Guatemala, LIFS in Peru, and TRANSSA in the Dominican Republic. Established in 2016, the coalition documents prejudice-motivated violence and presents analytical reporting to the Inter-American Human Rights System and the United Nations.
Previously, Urania covered violence against sexual minorities in Latin America, reporting on the UN expert Graeme Reid’s study on discrimination and aggression facing lesbian and bisexual women, also conducted in collaboration with SinViolencia, as well as findings by Colombia’s Caribe Afirmativo on rising hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people in Colombia.
