Gay rights activists in Puerto Rico have urged authorities to investigate whether a hate crime was committed after the body of a man, stabbed more than 20 times and nearly decapitated, was found in a motel. The nude body of the unidentified man was found Wednesday at a pay-by-the-hour motel in the southern coastal town of Ponce, said police commander Ricardo Nazario.
No one has been arrested, but police are trying to identify a man seen entering a motel room with the victim.
Nazario said it is too early to say if a hate crime was committed, but Pedro Julio Serrano, spokesman for the island's National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said police should investigate that possibility.
He said Puerto Rico has never charged anyone with a hate crime based on sexual orientation, and "not doing anything helps create a climate of homophobia, hate and persecution."
The killing comes nearly a month after the decapitated and partially burned body of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, a gay 19-year-old college student, was found in another southern town.
Prosecutors charged 26-year-old Juan Martinez Matos with first-degree murder in the case, saying he was looking for women in an area known for prostitution and killed Lopez, who was dressed as a woman, after discovering he was a man.
Federal officials have said they might pursue hate crime charges in Lopez's case if local authorities decline to do so.
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