Ociel Baena in Mexico City in a picture shared on his social networks in June 2023.
The lifeless body of Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo and that of his romantic partner were found this Monday morning in a residential area of Aguascalientes. Baena Saucedo became the first non-binary person to assume a judicial position in Mexico and Latin America last October, after the electoral court of the state of Aguascalientes recognized his identity. The judge was found next to his partner’s body in the Punta del Cielo neighborhood where he lived. Authorities said the investigation into the case is already underway. The Minister of Security of Aguascalientes, Manuel Alonso García, explained that the initial findings were “sentimental facts” and that it was entirely possible that Baena Saucedo and his partner had argued and were themselves responsible for the incident.
“There is no evidence that a third person was at the scene. “They probably hurt each other,” Aguascalientes Security Minister Manuel Alonso García told MVS this afternoon about the discovery of the two bodies. In addition, he has pointed out that the doors and locks of the house show no signs of alteration or damage. He reported that a razor was found in Ociel Baena’s own hand and that he probably injured himself with it since it was not the only one found in the room. The official also said that only the judge and his partner were in the house, according to a woman who normally works there.
Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez Velázquez confirmed the death of Baena Saucedo during President López Obrador’s morning conference without commenting further on the matter. However, he assured that the investigation was being carried out “to find the suspected perpetrator”. Aguascalientes media suspects that it could be a double murder and that there is no evidence that it was a robbery or an attack.
The judge had become a figure with a strong presence on social networks, where he shared videos of himself posing in various outfits in the court offices. “Non-binary identity has described me and even helped me transition my gender expression,” he said next to a rainbow flag when he took office in October, referring to the LGTBI+ collective rights movement. .
On July 17, in an interview with Milenio and after the shooting of Ulises Nava, an academic and LGBTI+ activist, Ociel Baena stated: “We are all afraid for our lives, it was Ulises, but it could have been other people.” Those of us who were at this event, we don’t know, we are dismayed. And of course we are afraid, but we will be even more afraid if we stop raising our voices.” Just two days before these statements, on July 15, Nava was shot while addressing the National Strategic Litigation Congress for Rainbow Quotas left in front of the doors of the Discover Museum in Aguascalientes. Baena blamed these and other acts of hate primarily on people who hold public office and who have published hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community. “This encourages the murderers who walk the streets to take our lives just because we don’t share our orientation and gender expressions,” he said.
I am a non-binary person, I am not interested in seeing myself as a woman or a man, that is an identity, it is mine and for me, for no one else. I owe nothing to the cisheteronorm. He is my dog and I bathe him! Support pic.twitter.com/L7J8T8psME
– OCIEL BAENA (@ocielbaena) June 22, 2023
Baena Saucedo was 38 years old, originally from Santillo, Coahuila state in northern Mexico, and had a long career in constitutional law and an extensive career as an electoral rights advocate. On his social networks, he also described himself as a “non-binary person, specialist in political electoral rights, promoter of strategic electoral disputes with an LGBTIQ+ perspective”. He had lived for more than ten years in Aguascalientes, a historically conservative state ruled for several years by the National Action Party (PAN). “I’m doing what I suppressed and prevented from the second year of school until two years ago. “Since I started wearing lipstick I feel good, you can’t imagine,” he explained in an interview with journalist Gabriela Warkentin for EL PAÍS.
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