Mexican human rights activist and husband found dead 6 months after disappearance

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities announced Monday the discovery of the bodies of a human rights activist and her husband, six months after they were reported missing in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The Oaxaca State Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that lawyer and activist Sandra Estefana Domínguez Martínez and her husband Alexander Hernández Hernández were found Thursday in the municipality of Santiago Sochiapan in neighboring Veracruz state.

The bodies were found in two graves and authorities waited until testing confirmed their identities before announcing the discovery.

The couple were last seen Oct. 4, in the town of María Lombardo de Caso, in eastern Oaxaca on the border with Veracruz.

Domínguez Martínez, a prominent feminist activist and defender of the Mixe Indigenous peoples, native to Oaxaca’s eastern highlands, is herself of Mixe descent.

In 2020, Domínguez denounced several state government officials for allegedly participating in misogynist group chats. Domínguez said the virtual chats shared images of Indigenous women and included degrading commentary. Since then, Domínguez had faced ongoing threats.

The couple’s car had been found abandoned in Veracruz.

On Monday, the Oaxaca prosecutor’s office said a criminal group operating in Veracruz was responsible and a woman was in custody.

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