Transvestites and transsexuals in Tijuana, Mexico, are under renewed assault from the city police department's Special Forces, reports the local newspaper Frontera Gay.

The paper cited "constant arrests of young men dressed as women or simply wearing makeup, abuse during arrest, two and three hours trips [around the city] in police vehicles, body searches that include ripping off clothes, insults, and sexual harassment for the enjoyment and diversion of the officers."

"They hunt [transgendered people] like rabbits, on the sidewalks in front of nightclubs and on the streets of the city," the paper said.

Those taken into custody are charged with offenses to public morality, prostitution, drug possession or theft.

"These abuses signal the ominous intention of the police to divide gays into 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable,' 'discreet' and 'shameless,' with prejudice against the most vulnerable groups within the community," Frontera Gay said.

"Veronica," a drag performer at the club Noa Noa, has been arrested three times in six months. The most recent time, she was driven around the city for three hours then taken to the Special Forces headquarters on International Avenue and ordered to strip "so we can check that you don't have drugs hidden up there."

The officers proceeded to slap her rear and paw her face and chest, Frontera Gay said. One officer ordered her, "Dance so we can see how good you are in your show."

Finally, they told her, "If you suck us off, we'll let you go and won't take you before the judge."

Veronica refused and was convicted of "scandal in the public way." She opted for a 350 peso fine ($42) rather than 36 hours in jail, and was released.

Numerous other transvestites interviewed by Frontera Gay related nearly identical stories.

Tijuana is located 15 miles south of downtown San Diego, Calif.

TWO AMERICAN GAYS MURDERED IN MEXICO

Two wealthy American gays were found murdered in their Mexico City-area homes last week.

Joseph Edward Anisz Poston, 51, was found with his genitals cut off at his house in the capital city's posh Lomas de Chapultepec district.

An hour south of Mexico City, William Markely Nixon, aged between 55 and 60, was found on the balcony of his luxury home in Cuernavaca. He had been stabbed 10 times.

Rex Wockner's weekly international news reports dating back to May 1994 can be searched at http://www.wockner.com. The reports in their original form are archived at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html, which also archives Wockner's Quote Unquote column and some of his longer gay-press articles.