Toloposungo: the trans movement that opposes the Colombian police with “mariconeo” | Take part in protests against Iván Duque’s government

Colombia’s trans collectives have grown in importance in a country shattered by protests. They go 19 trans murders in the country since the beginning of the year. A month ago, in the midst of a convulsion, the crime of Luciana Moscoso placeholder image and they denounce that there is no protection from the authorities.

The way to protest is through street actions. Wearing a police helmet, shirtless and a skirt with phosphorus green ruffles, a young trans woman stops traffic in the center of Bogotá, while her trans and transvestite companions dance “vogue” in the middle of the street in a festive way, against the street. police violence and the justification of those who are no longer there, says journalist Inés Escudero for a note published in EFE.

They do “mariconeo”, as they say, to make the situation visible. “We dance, we say to them: “you attack us with bullets, I attack you while dancing; my movements are the weapons I have against you‘”, argued to the rhythm of the music Sofía Gallego, a young trans who is part of Toloposungo, the movement of” trans and queers “which is at the origin of these” artistic “protests.

They say “effeminate”, that they “dance like crazy”, that they “shout”. But, assured Gallego, “we don’t care whether you like it or not, we do it our way and that’s what really identifies us.”

Toloposungo, along with other LGTB groups, turned all this “anger” and discontent into a big march on Thursday July 16, when they flooded several streets of the Santa Fe district, a central district of Bogotá where prostitution and brothels abound, to end up denouncing in front of the doors of the public prosecutor’s office that their affairs go unpunished. “We celebrate our existence when everyone says we can’t exist,” they said.

Colombian transgender people have often seen their employment opportunities reduced to sex work or hairdressing and makeup. In addition, they are daily subjected to mockery, harassment and even violence from both society and the police. This is why the march regretfully stopped at the corner of Santa Fe where Sofía was murdered in 2017. She was a 17-year-old trans minor who “was hit by a car for transphobia”.

They pointed out that in “the heart of Bogotá, we are living the extermination and the genocide” which have already been perpetrated. their companions. Among so many dances and harangues, the loudest cry is that of “All cops are gonorrhea”, a phrase that gives its name to the Toloposungo collective.

Vogue, a dance typical of trans, transvestites and gays, especially blacks, went viral a few months ago, when a group of three “queer” girls climbed the steps of the Bogotá courthouse on the 28th. April and started dancing in front of riot gear. They were reluctant to start firing tear gas at protesters who gathered in the central Bolivar square on the first day of the national strike.

Yet Toloposungo has been rehearsing for many months, gathering every week in a park in the Colombian capital to practice “vogue”, “twerk” and other dances traditionally poorly regarded and which are now fashionable in all clubs. of the world. .

“Police abuse here does not distinguish between race, gender, gender or social class. What we are becoming is a movement where everyone comes together,” said Gallego.

The group has helped many young people to switch to the opposite sex or to find out how they feel and are welcomed. “The gender constructions are so diverse that here you can be a woman as you wish and in Toloposungo no one will tell you that you are not a woman because the love and the love of dance reign above all” , Gallego concluded.