Daniel Zamudio, 24, was assaulted by a Neo-Nazi group in Santiago de Chile. Zamudio was found in the early morning on Saturday, severely injured, around Parque San Borja, in downtown Santiago. He remains in critical condition at Posta Central hospital and under a medically induced coma after he was severely beaten, bearing serious lesions in face and head. The assailants also marked his body with swastikas and cut off a part of his ear. Authorities are investigating the incident and do not discard the possibility that the aggression took place elsewhere and then the body was disposed at the park. According to his relatives, the young man had received previously death threats by Neo-Nazi groups only because of being homosexual. They also reported that in a previous occasion, he had been kept on watch by a suspect group, outside a club in Santiago. Popular singer Ricky Martin – who came out of the closet in 2010 – sent a message of encouragement to the Chilean young man via his Twitter account: “No more hate, no more discrimination. I hope justice will be served NOW. A lot of light for Daniel and his family”. The tweet included the hashtag #fuerzadanielzamudio (strength Daniel Zamudio) and quickly spread over the social networks in and outside Latin America, expressing concern for the terrible incident and solidarity with the young man. Quickly enough, tweets in English and other languages also spread, including those by some activists in Egypt and the Middle East. In Chile, an LGBT organization, Fundacion Iguales, expressed through an official statement, its repudiation of the crime: “We demand from the Chilean authorities to make sure that legal actions are put into motion in order to punish the guilty culprits. A crime of this magnitude cannot remain in impunity. We also request that the Anti-Discrimination Law will be given priority, with the sole purpose to offer protection to every citizen, regardless of race, ethnic group, nationality, socio-economic situation, language, ideology or political opinion, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, civil status, age, affiliation, personal appearance, illness or disability.” Fundacion Iguales also called their followers and friends via social media to stage a demonstration today at 17.30 in front of the Posta Central hospital to show support for Daniel Zamudio. They have also expressed their intention to request an appointment with the Minister of Interior to bring the matter to his attention. An activist for another LGBT association spoke to CNN saying: “We are very worried because it is not the first time that such brutal expression of violence takes place in the country. This is a consequence of the Chilean government's lax attitude in tolerating Neo-Nazi groups.” This organization has also spread the victim's photo via media in order to find possible witnesses of the incident, in order to be able to come closer to finding the assailants. According to Chilean bloggers, a good number of LGBT youth have been beaten in the past by such groups in downtown Santiago and left wounded in the street, without anyone doing anything to protect or defend them. It rings an alarm about the recurrence of violence and discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, gender, ideology and religion all over the world. In the Middle East violence against homosexuals is not unheard of and homophobic rhetoric in media is common. It is important to address these issues at the level of policy-making and government in order to prevent such acts of brutality from happening and not only against homosexuals, but also against women and minorities, all of which experience discrimination in the Middle East on a daily basis. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/4gDwA Tags: Chile, featured, LGBT, Nazi, Neo Section: Crime, Editor's choice, Human Rights, Latest News, South America
