Weeks have passed since Rodrigo Ventosilla, a Peruvian tourist who came to Bali with his husband for a holiday, died in detention where he was being held for allegedly bringing medical marijuana into the country. His death, officials said, was due to a "failure of bodily functions." But the lack of transparency surrounding his death has led his family, friends and the LGBTQ communities in both Peru and Indonesia, to believe that there was police mistreatment or even abuse during his detention, primarily caused by "racial discrimination and transphobia."

Ventosilla was a transman, as is his husband. When the news of his death broke online, his family's accusation of transphobia as a factor in his death prompted support and counter claims, the latter insisting that his bringing marijuana into Indonesia—with the country's zero-tolerance policy—led to his being detained in the first place.

But for transgender individuals in Indonesia, the case hit close to home. Communities from Jaringan Transgender Indonesia to Arus Pelangi have demanded answers about Ventosilla's death because, regardless of the crosscutting issues at hand, they know that the ingrained transphobia in the country often causes the death of trans people.

"It's not just the Peruvian case," Kanzha Vinaa, 29-year-old transwoman activist, told The Jakarta Post on Aug. 31. She said that transgender people had long been victims of the government's "political commodity."

"What the government [says or does] impacts on the grassroots communities directly, because when the narrative rejects, attacks or opposes LGBTQ, people's transphobia will intensify without them knowing it is happening."

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