Dominga Ramos Saloj was a prominent indigenous woman human rights defender and defender of Mother Earth in Guatemala. On 5 March 2020 she was shot by an unknown assailant several times at her home in the community of Las Delicias. According to witnesses, the attacker came to the door of Dominga’s home and said “I have a delivery for you”, before shooting her several times and absconding on a motorcycle. The attack took place in front of her daughter-in-law and her grandchildren.

Dominga (53) was a Maya farmer and belong to the Campesino Development Committee (CODECA) and the Movement for the Liberation of the People (MLP). She was determined defender of the nationalization of the electric energy.

Dominga Ramos was part of several projects linked to the training of women in the defence of the environment and in their labours rights. Furthermore, in collaboration with CODECA, she promoted the loroco farming within the community. Her husband, Miguel Ixcal, is a political advisor of the indigenous representative Vicenta Jerónimo, the only legislator from MLP in the Guatemalan Congress.

The members of MLP and CODECA have demanded an inquiry to establish and prosecute the perpetrators of this despicable crime. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations in Guatemala (OHCHR) has also called for an investigation. This was not an isolated attack, but part of a systematic pattern of attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala, particularly those who fight in the struggle against the privatization of the national assets.