Tag Archives: Jorge Mercado

Activist Pedro Julio Serrano and the parents of murdered gay teen Jorge Mercado spoke to the local news after their son’s killer plead guilty. You don’t have to speak one word of Spanish to be moved by this.

Juan José Martínez Matos has pleaded guilty to the murder of gay Puerto Rican teenager Jorge Mercado (left), whose decapitated and burned body was found by a roadside last November. Mercado’s murder caused an international outcry and forced activists to pressure the federal government to ensure that the case was prosecuted as a hate crime by Puerto Rican authorities. Michael …

The confessed killer of gay teen Jorge Mercado has been found competent to stand trial. Last month Juan Martinez Matos was ordered to undergo mental evaluation after exhibiting symptoms of what some said was a faked state of psychosis. Via Michael Lavers at Edge: “The quest for justice has begun,” Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay & Lesbian Task …

Juan Martinez Matos, the confessed killer of Puerto Rican gay teen Jorge Mercado, has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for the time being. But is he faking it? Psychiatrist Rafael Cabrera urged Caguas Superior Court Judge Camila Jusino to send the 26-year old suspect, Juan Martínez Matos, back to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Río Piedras to keep …

In his confession to the decapitation murder of gay teen Jorge Mercado, Juan Martinez Matos (left) claimed that Mercado had been dressed as a woman in an area known for prostitution, driving him, he claimed, to murder Mercado in “gay panic” once he discovered Mercado’s true gender. But according to Puerto Rican activist Pedro Julio Serrano, those close to Mercado …

After an outcry from the LGBT community at home and here on the mainland, the government of Puerto Rico has agreed to investigate the murder of gay teen Jorge Mercado as a hate crime. Activists had called on US. Attorney General Eric Holder to intervene if Puerto Rico had refused. Via Michael Lavers: Puerto Rican authorities have agreed to investigate …

Openly gay teenager Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, the victim of one of the most gruesome hate crimes in memory, was buried in Puerto Rico yesterday. Clip and subtitles by Andres Duque at Blabbeando. Get out a tissue. Get out two.

Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered on the chilly Christopher Street Pier tonight to honor the memory of murdered gay teen Jorge Mercado and to call on the federal and Puerto Rican governments to charge his killer with a hate crime. A broad coalition of LGBT, Hispanic, and progressive groups were represented by numerous speakers who spoke in English and Spanish …

Via Andres Duque at Blabbeando, the mother of murdered gay teen Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado shares her grief. (Mercado’s mother is pictured above with activist Pedro Julio Serrano. They are recreating Mercado’s signature salute, seen below.) “When my son told me he was gay, I told him, ‘Now, I love you more’. I want to tell the world that hatred …

JMG reader Sean Chapin created this clip publicizing the memorial vigils to take place around the country this weekend in honor of murdered gay teen Jorge Mercado.

Juan Martinez Matos, 25, is being held on $4M bond in San Juan, Puerto Rico after confessing to the decapitation murder of 19 year-old gay teen Jorge Mercado. The killer is claiming “gay panic” after he discovered that Mercado, who was in drag, was a male. Martinez met Lopez while looking for women Thursday night in an area known for …

Puerto Rico police have made an arrest in the gruesome murder of openly gay 19 year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, whose decapitated and burned body was found in a wooded area on Friday. Towleroad writes: Today, the paper Primera Hora reports that a 28-year-old man has been arrested as a suspect in the murder and and two vehicles have been …