Rodrigo Ventocilla Ventosilla, 32, had just finished an internship in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was time to return to Harvard University (USA), where he was doing a master’s degree in Public Management. But he decided first to travel to Bali (Indonesia), together with Sebastián Marellano, her husband. The plan was to celebrate her honeymoon there.
Upon arriving at Indonesiahe was arrested for alleged drug possession. Days later, under unexplained circumstances, he died in a hospital. Given these facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a official announcementindicating that the corresponding measures were carried out and that the detention did not correspond to acts of racial discrimination and transphobia. The document generated rejection and outrage in various LGTBIQ+ groups and collectives, by not showing solidarity or mentioning a potential abuse of human rights.
READ ALSO: The strange death of a trans-Peruvian Harvard student after being detained by the Police in Bali
The facts and unknowns
Ventocilla arrived on August 6 at the Denpasar-Ngurah Rai airport in Bali. According to the Foreign Ministry, the arrest occurred because customs found among his belongings, in addition to pills with their respective medical prescription, objects that contained residues of cannabis, as well as products made with said element. Then Marallano arrived, who would have been detained while trying to help her husband.
The organization Trans Male Diversity (DTM) points out that the authorities would have required them to pay the young people enormous sums of money for their freedom, ranging from $13,000 to $100,000 each. It also indicates that during their detention both were victims of police violence and that their rights to health, liberty, access to legal defense, information and non-discrimination were violated.
On August 9, the relatives were informed that the two young people suffered a decompensation in their cell, so they had to be taken to a hospital. Ventocilla would have been in a intensive care unit. Two days later, they were transferred to another health center, where the Harvard student and economist died.
READ ALSO: Life sentences and executions: how do Indonesia’s draconian drug laws work?
The families and organizations involved in this case initially denounced that the Indonesian authorities did not authorize the delivery of the medical report from the police hospital, where the two Peruvians were treated first. They also comment that they were not given the necessary tests and were not allowed to communicate with their contacts.
They also allege that the authorities made it difficult for lawyers to access the second hospital, such as Harvard students who went in support of Ventocilla.
Despite calls for help, as well as pressure from different organizations, “the consul [Julio Tenorio Pereyra] He did not appear to provide support to our relatives, until we received the fateful news of the death of our beloved Rodrigo”reads a statement released by social networks.
The reactions
In the Foreign Ministry statement, this entity states that “Indonesia maintains a zero tolerance policy regarding the possession of drugs and its derived productsand underlines that Ventocilla “he would have incurred a serious crime under the strict laws of that country”.
“Nothing can explain or justify that [los dos jóvenes] have been interned without any explanation, much less that a Peruvian has died while being detained by the Indonesian state”said to Trade Congresswoman Susel Paredes, who is closely following this case. According to the official, the authorities of that country have to explain the circumstances in which Ventocilla died, and she stressed that the person who must demand this information is the consul.
“The civil society organizations and LGTBIQ+ activists that we are accompanying the relatives of Sebastián and Rodrigo, We express our repudiation and rejection of the Foreign Ministry’s statementwhich is biased, insufficient and not very empathic”announced LuzMo Henríquez, representative of these groups. “We demand a process that determines those responsible for the torture, extortion and violation of human rights that led to the death of Rodrigo”he added.
“When both are arrested, something happens to their health, so they lose consciousness. After a few days, Sebastián recovers, but Rodrigo dies. And that is what the Foreign Ministry has to investigate”Paredes stressed.
For her, Ventocilla and Marellano were doubly vulnerable. First, because they had cannabis residues and derived products, in a country where the repression for the drug issue is extreme. And second, because they were both transgender people, in a territory where people are publicly punished just for that.
It should be noted that, although it does not occur throughout the country, several provinces, cities and districts in Indonesia prohibit same-sex intimacy through local ordinances.
“Just as the United States recommends not traveling to countries where there is terrorism, the Foreign Ministry has to give Peruvians the list of states where it is a crime to be homosexual and warn of the danger”Walls said.
Research
In dialogue with this newspaper, the Ombudsman He commented that the relatives feel that they have not had direct support from the Foreign Ministry. “They have pointed out that the consul answered the calls and provided the telephone number of lawyers, but did not show up at the most crucial moments of the detention, and that have not received sufficient support for the repatriation of the remains of Rodrigo”said Percy Castillo, deputy for human rights and people with disabilities of the Ombudsman.
To determine whether the consul carried out his duties adequately, and in favor of the interests of those affected, Castillo said that it is recommended that an investigation be requested. “The Foreign Ministry must establish to what extent its officials acted in accordance with the law, in support of Peruvians abroad”he explained.
The Ombudsman sent a first official letter to the Foreign Ministry, before hearing the statements of the relatives. After having this new information, a second document was issued, requesting an investigation. Likewise, a concern was expressed about the official statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which conclusive statements are made when the investigation of what happened has not yet been completed.
“There is no formal investigation procedure. Not even a proper investigation has been opened where what the families said can be verified with what the consul can say in their defense “Castle clarified.
Also…
to take into account
Bali police spokesman Stefanus Satake Bayu Setianto told Archyde.com that two days after his arrest, Ventocilla was rushed to hospital and died of “failure of bodily functions.”
-The young man would have become ill, declared the spokesman, after ingesting medicines that were not part of the articles confiscated by the police.