In June, while Mexico City flagged in the colors of the rainbow to celebrate sexual diversity and inclusion, a man was imprisoned for “danger of contagion”, crime adapted to the AIDS pandemic and that recovered strength with that of covid-19.
The image of Juan “N”, as identified by the Mexican capital’s prosecutor’s office, was released in a photo and video. His crime: not having informed a former partner that he was a carrier of HIV.
The criminal type is called “danger of contagion” and can carry up to five years in prison to whom, knowing that he has a venereal or serious disease, infects more people “by sexual intercourse” or “other means”.
“What the crime does is criminalize people who live with any health condition, be it HIV or any other,” explains Geraldina González de la Vega, president of the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (Copred) of the government of the City of Mexico.
The complaints, the only means to prosecute the crime, escalated in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the capital’s prosecutor’s office opened 78 investigations for “danger of contagion” and there are already 52 this year, according to official data that do not specify what disease caused the complaints.
But compared to the nine complaints in 2018 and the 12 in 2019, the impact of the coronavirus is evident.
Although there are no reports of new incarcerations, the head of the Copred considers it “stigmatizing” to investigate a covid-19 patient.
A nurse prepares a dose of the coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in Mexico’s capital. Photo: BLOOMBERG
With 2.7 million confirmed cases and 239,079 deaths, Mexico is the fourth country hardest hit by the pandemic in absolute numbers.
Old moralisms and a new pandemic
The “danger of contagion”, present for decades in the federal penal code, responds to old moralisms of catholic roots like punishing “licentious” behavior, according to academic studies.
In the 1990s, the advance of AIDS led to the toughening of the norm in the nascent penal code of the then Federal District.
“The crime of injuries can criminally punish a person who fraudulently goes and infects another. And if he has the intention to do so and does not succeed, we have attempted injuries,” González de la Vega remarks.
Discrimination?
The figure thus contradicts the constitutional principles of human dignity and non-discrimination by health condition.
In the case of Juan “N”, the prosecution irreversibly exposed him by spreading the accusation, his face and personal data.
“It is illegal,” says Jaime Morales, director of sexual diversity for the capital government, who today works to train and sensitize the personnel who disclosed the information.
The vaccine, the main way to protect yourself from the coronavirus. Photo: AP
Juan’s confinement, which lasted a week, was due to the complaint of his ex-partner, whose lawyers allege that she was deceived and put at risk. The prosecution argues that he was arrested for failing to respond to subpoenas.
The judge finally determined that he could continue the trial at liberty. The AFP agency contacted the accused and his defender, but they abstained from making a statement so as not to affect the process.
More protection against HIV
The criminal type is also anachronistic from a medical perspective.
For two decades, antiretroviral drugs have reduced HIV until it is undetectable and therefore non-communicable. There are also preventive methods that protect up to 99% from possible sexual infections.
“A person who is totally in control (treatment) does not transmit the virus to their partners,” says Sergio Montalvo, a doctor at the Condesa public clinic, specializing in HIV-AIDS.
The treatment is also free in any public health service in Mexico.
Montalvo stresses that HIV-positive people have the power to share or not their diagnosis.
Proposals for changes to the law
Although Juan’s case marks a painful milestone, it also opens the door for the repeal of the crime.
Temístocles Villanueva, a deputy for the ruling Morena party in the capital’s Congress, will present an initiative in August.
“It is an intervention of the State on the private life of the people, on their sexual relations”, emphasizes Villanueva, for whom criminalization does not reduce contagion.
“What it does cause is that people hide their state of health so as not to risk being accused,” he adds.
During 2020, 342 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in Mexico City and 9,220 throughout the country, according to official figures.
Source: AFP
CB
.
source https://pledgetimes.com/danger-of-contagion-why-in-mexico-having-hiv-or-coronavirus-can-lead-to-jail/
Disqus comments