A gay man has died in hospital after being beaten to death in Chile in what has been described as a homophobic attack.
24-year-old Daniel Zamudio was brutally beaten by 4 alleged neo-Nazis, who burned him with cigarettes and carved swastikas into his body.
The Chilean public has responded to the attack with outrage, prompting the National Congress to consider a law banning a variety of discriminatory behaviours, reported the Associated Press.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera sent a message on his Twitter account saying, “His death will not go unpunished, and it reinforces the total commitment of the government against any arbitrary discrimination and for a more tolerant country.”
Zamudio, who was beaten in Chile’s capital of Santiago, died after 25 days of induced coma from “surgical trauma,” Emilio Villalon, director of Posta Central hospital, said at a press conference.
After visiting the victim’s family on Tuesday night, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter, the acting president while Sebastian Pinera is traveling in Asia, told reporters “We are going to work tirelessly in our Congress to pass our anti-discrimination law as quickly as possible.”
