Transgender student’s death spurs outcry

The death of a Harvard transgender student in Indonesian custody has caused uproar in his native Peru and the United States, with authorities

in Lima pressing for an investigation into the circumstances of his detention and death after the public backlash.

Rodrigo Ventosilla, a 32year-old public administration graduate student, died on Aug. 11, five days after he was detained on the resort island of Bali for alleged possession of marijuana, Reuters reported.

Ventosilla, a transgender man who was on honeymoon with his partner, died due to “failure of bodily functions” after taking medication that had not been confiscated by authorities, Bali police told Reuters. Ventosilla’s spouse was separately detained but has been released, according to the Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper.

Local law enforcement said that the case is closed, but Ventosilla’s family said in a statement shared by activists that he was a victim of “police violence,” and “racial discrimination and transphobia.” They also claim that he was denied access to legal counsel while in detention and that he had been carrying prescribed mental health medication.

Harvard’s Kennedy School, where Ventosilla was a student, urged an “immediate and thorough investigation” into “very serious questions that deserve clear and accurate answers.”