Guatemala: Lawyer who defended rural and indigenous people killed in an attack

GUATEMALA CITY – A Guatemalan lawyer who worked closely with organizations representing rural workers and indigenous groups was killed in an apparent ambush, human rights groups said Thursday.

José Domingo was with two members of the United Farmworkers Committee when they were shot by a group of men south of the capital on Wednesday, said Daniel Pascual, a leader of the organization.

The Guatemalan authorities did not comment on the attack. The other two men were injured, one seriously, Pascual said.

Domingo helped legalize a land title in the area, Pascual said. Land ownership issues are often contentious in rural Guatemala, where indigenous peoples and farm workers struggle to obtain ownership rights to the land they live on and frequently face illegal evictions.

“It was an ambush, the crime was planned and premeditated,” Pascual said. “Ordinary criminals don’t behave like that.”

Domingo had defended the farmworkers’ organization as well as other indigenous groups in a number of cases.

“We cannot separate this attack from politics because the two men who were with him are members of the committee,” Pascual said. He said Domingo helped members resist attempts to evict them from their land and helped them get clean titles to their properties.

The United Nations Office for Human Rights called for a prompt and impartial investigation.

The Wuxhtaj Peoples Council also condemned the attack and said Domingo was a member of the Popti or Jakalteko people and a “defender of Mother Earth.” ___

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