Nadia Echazú

Nadia Echazú
Echazú in 1998
Born
Salta, Salta Province, Argentina
Died(2004-07-18)18 July 2004
Cause of death
HIV
MonumentsNadia Echazú Textile Cooperative
OccupationsSex worker
Human rights activist
Years active1990s–2004
Organization(s)Organization of Travestis and Transsexuals of Argentina

Nadia Echazú (died 18 July 2004) was an Argentine human rights activist and a founder of the Organization of Transvestis and Transsexuals of Argentina (OTTRA). The Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative is named in her honour; it trains transgender people with the aim of facilitating their integration into the economy. Echazú is cited in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as a key thinker in the development of Trans philosophy in Argentina.

Early life

Born in Salta, Salta Province, Echazú moved to Córdoba in the 1980s where she worked as a sex worker in the Second Police Precinct.[1] Between 1993 and 1994 she moved to Buenos Aires.[1] Echazú was a trans woman.[1]

Activism

In the 1990s, along with activists Lohana Berkins, Diana Sacayán and Marlene Wayar, Echazú fought against the creation of ghettos for the travesti and transgender communities in the cities of Córdoba and Buenos Aires.[2] In Córdoba, she co-founded the Association Against Homosexual Discrimination (ACoDHo) with bar owner Eugenio Cesano.[1] In Buenos Aires, she was an activist with the Association of Travestis of Argentina (ATA, later the Asociación de Travestis, Transexuales y Transgéneros de Argentina) and later a founder of the Organization of Travestis and Transsexuals of Argentina (OTTRA).[2][1][3][4] She was a strong proponent of the legal rights of travesti people.[5]

From 1995 to 1998, Argentine police had the authority to detain people in public whom they perceived to be transgender.[5] In 2001, Echazú was arrested whilst handing out condoms and HIV advice.[5] She had tear gas sprayed in her face and was tortured during her subsequent detention.[5] The arrest was reported by Amnesty International.[5] Despite living in Buenos Aires, Echazú regularly visited friends in Córdoba.[1] One visit in 2000 coincided with the death in police custody of Vanesa Ledesma, who precipitated the first transgender marches in Córdoba, which Echazú helped organise.[1]

Echazú died on 18 July 2004 of HIV at Muñiz Hospital.[6]

Legacy

Five workers from the Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative, 2024

In 2008, the activist collective she was active in launched a workers' cooperative bearing her name: the Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative.[7] It was co-founded by Marlene Wayar.[8] This enterprise has been recognized by national and international institutions and organizations and promotes social integration, an idea outlined by Echazú to lift trans women out of the marginalization and prostitution to which they were relegated.[9] It is located in the Crucecita neighborhood of Avellaneda, provided by the National Institute of Associativism and Social Economy.[9] At this centre, training and experience are offered to transgender people with the aim of facilitating their integration into the economy.[1][10][11]

Echazú is cited in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as a key thinker in the development of Argentine transgender philosophy.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Molina, Gustavo (31 March 2021). "Nadia Echazú, una parte de la lucha trans fue ella". El Diario (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 16 August 2025. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Sociedad :: Un nombre, un homenaje". Página 12 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  3. ↑ Savage, Claire (22 May 2019). "Transgender artists make headway in Latin American culture". LatinAmerican Post. Archived from the original on 13 September 2025. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  4. ↑ McGuirk, Siobhan (26 June 2022). "How trans rights activists changed Argentina". Red Pepper. Archived from the original on 16 November 2025. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Alvarez, Ana G. (2 April 2024). ""Walking Around Naked Sets Back our Struggle": Travesti Activism, Repression, and Public Space in Buenos Aires (1994–1998)". Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 33 (2): 241–260. doi:10.1080/13569325.2024.2352447. ISSN 1356-9325.
  6. ↑ Malucas, Moléculas (5 February 2021). "Nadia y sus amigas". Moléculas Malucas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 December 2025. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  7. ↑ "La cooperativa Nadia Echazú apuesta por la no discriminación". Página 12 (in Spanish). 31 March 2023. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  8. ↑ Wayar, Marlene; Balderas, Tania Libertad (1 February 2024). "In My Mind There Is a Cemetery/Tengo un cementerio en la cabeza". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 11 (1): 135–140. doi:10.1215/23289252-11131741. ISSN 2328-9252.
  9. 1 2 "Nadia Echazú fabrica y capacita en nuevos sueños". El Portal de las Cooperativas (in Spanish). 5 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 June 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  10. ↑ "Lo trans en la historia (Segunda parte)". latetera.com.ar (in Spanish). 22 November 2017. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  11. ↑ "La pasarela del aguante". criticadigital.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Zurn, Perry (2025), Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.), "Trans Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2025 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 1 February 2026
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Category:Proyecto Cooperativa Nadia Echazú y otras at Wikimedia Commons
  • Amnesty International Report: AI Index: AMR 13/022/2001
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