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Girl Rescued From Conversion Centre That Cures LGBTI People After She Admits Having Lesbian Lover

A woman locked up in an organisation that claims to be able to ‘cure’ LGBTI people after she confessed to her mum that she was in a lesbian relationship with another woman has been freed after her girlfriend reported her missing.

Veronica Fonseca, 20, was found at a so-called conversion therapy centre in the town and municipality of Teocaltiche in Jalisco, in Mexico, on Wednesday 14th April.

Conversion therapy is the controversial practice of trying to change the sexual orientation of a person using psychology, spirituality or physical means.

@vero.fonseca.33/Newsflash

Local media said Veronica had been taken there against her will by her mum while she was mourning the recent loss of her father in the city of Colima in the Mexican state of the same name.

The 20-year-old was reportedly in the care of her family after she got chickenpox while in Colima.

Veronica’s disappearance was first reported on by her girlfriend Alondra Zamudio with a tweet on 7th April. She said: “At around 3:30 on 07/04/2021 I stopped receiving messages from her [ Veronica] and I assumed she was getting ready for her trip to Arandas.

@vero.fonseca.33/Newsflash)

“At around 5pm I decided to call her because I got worried. The call was not answered by Vero but by her mother.”

The two had plans to meet in the municipality of Arandas where Alondra is from that same week after Veronica had been complaining about having countless tense arguments with her mum.

The 20-year-old had recently decided to tell her mum she was attracted to women which had lead them to have a strenuous relationship.

\@vero.fonseca.33/Newsflash

Alondra claimed that the mum had apparently assumed she would stop searching for the missing 20-year-old after speaking with her on the phone but Alondra still decided to contact the authorities.

Alondra also posted a string of tweets where she claimed Veronica was constantly arguing with her mother over their relationship and had even been struck in the face and left bleeding on an occasion.

The National Search Commission got in touch with the Missing Persons Commissions in the states of Jalisco and Colima.

@vero.fonseca.33/Newsflash

Members from Jalisco’s Missing Persons Commission finally found Veronica in Teocaltiche, Jalisco a week after she went missing but there have been no official reports on her status.

Her girlfriend made a tweet yesterday (15 April) that said: “Vero is OK, she is in a safe place. Infinite gratitude to all the people who helped me and were keeping up with all this.”

It is unclear if any legal actions will be taken against the mum.

@vero.fonseca.33/Newsflash

Civil society organisation Union Diversa of Jalisco President Fascinacion Jimenez had previously told local sources: “if she [ Veronica] is willing to proceed against whoever put her in there and the centre, we will support her.”

Fascinacion added the conversion centres “break the spirit” of people as they have seen cases where people are forced to walk, jump and bend over naked in front of staff to ensure they don’t have drugs and have their food very rationed.

The organisation’s president said: “They break their spirit, it is a psychological terror. Unfortunately, we have several documented cases, some worse than others, where there have been humiliations such as sexual violations and even electroshock.”

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