Transgender activist and former teacher found guilty of triple murder in Mexico
By Mark Townsend
21 April 2015
The ruling by state court judges in Mexico City yesterday resulted in the conviction of Maria Elena Salinas, a trans woman who was arrested in March 2013 after killing her male partner Javier Aragón at the hands of her best friend, also transgender, Anabel Hernández, and Aragón’s then-wife Gabriela Rodríguez, both of whom were murdered in their own home four months later.
Salinas was convicted of first-degree murder of Aragón (who was 32) and Hernández (who was 30) and of participating in a criminal conspiracy. In May 2014, Salinas was also convicted of two counts of homicide against her former partner, Javier Aragón. She received a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
The case has attracted global attention as a window onto the US government’s increasingly militarist, anti-immigrant and fascistic underbelly.
Salinas was arrested in March 2013 after one of the men she had been planning to kill called her and, according to the judge, threatened her. Police found three pistols and a box of ammunition when they searched the couple’s home; their bodies were found four months later in their apartment after a fire was started to burn the place down.
According to the official version, Salinas became jealous when she discovered that Hernández was having an affair with Aragón after noticing their friendship was developing into something more than “passing moments.” Her jealousy, however, was compounded by her own anger at being unable to have children. She and Aragón, who was married with children, had been seeing each other for four to five months.
After the murder of Aragón and Hernández, Salinas and Arag