Bodies Mexican activist and husband found after months

The Public Prosecution Service of the southern state of Oaxaca found the bodies of the 38-year-old Domínguez and her husband Alexander Hernández in two graves in a building in the adjacent state of Veracruz on 24 April. The couple has been missing since 4 October and fell victim to « a regional criminal cell, » the OM concludes.

Her family believes that the authorities did not investigate the case properly. The disappearance of Domínguez and her husband followed on long -term threats. Domínguez had revealed that government officials in Oaxaca in WhatsApp groups shared discriminatory and sexist reports about native women, just like photos of naked women, without permission. The local politician Humberto Santos withdrew as a candidate for the Congress of the state of Oaxaca in 2021, after it turned out that he had created a WhatsApp group in which he encouraged the sharing of intimate photos of indigenous women.

Women’s rights

Domínguez’s activism started in 2009. When there was a wave of waves at her university, she profiled herself as a student leader. She also got hard for the native people Mixe, which she also descended. But she was best known for regionally because she defended women as a lawyer in cases concerning disappearances, femicide, and domestic and digital violence, culminating on her revelations about the sexist WhatsApp groups within the regional government.

Standing up for human rights is not without risk in Mexico, ravaged by Bendegeweld and disappearances. 125,000 people are registered as missing in the Latin American country alone. Also – often fatal – violence against women is widespread. A colleague who knew Domínguez from an early age, typified her in November El País if someone who never admitted fear And always shared threats with colleagues, except in the weeks before her disappearance.

Intimidation

The threats against Domínguez started in 2023 after again exposing a sexist group app within the regional board. She aimed her arrows at the senior official Donato Vargas, who had already been involved in the earlier app group. The activist started according to El País To get intimidating phone calls and her colleagues were also harassed. Among other things, they would have received messages that showed that the sender knew where they were. With success: Domínguez distanced himself from her environment and no longer responded to colleagues. « They silenced her, » an anonymous source told El País.

After the disappearance in a press conference, the regional board denied that the Vargas official would have something to do with it. Despite frequent insistence of the family, the authorities initially refused to investigate a possible link between the activism of Domínguez and her disappearance. Later they said that « all research lines » were open.

With SIT-Sins, among others, the family continued to perform the pressure to work on the research into the disappearance. Sandra’s sister Kisha stated in November that the family was also several times intimidated by people dressed in black on motorbikes, who would have threatened that the search for Domínguez was stopped. According to the colleague, the regional board did not want to find her, « because then all the dark aspects of this case would come to light. »

According to the Public Prosecution Service, research on Monday points to members of criminal cells in the state of Veracruz, « exactly the lines of research that have been plotted from the start. » Earlier, the car of the couple was found empty and a man was arrested who had Domínguez’s phone with him. In the meantime a woman has also been arrested.

The family is especially disappointed in the authorities and speaks on Monday of a « painful and powerful reflection of reality » in Mexico.

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