Indigenous communities in Oaxaca and California are grieving; they’ve lost a leader.
Rufino Dominguez-Santos was born in a small village in Oaxaca in the 1960s. He began organizing in his community at a young age. He later immigrated to California.
Indigenous Immigrants in California Mourn the Loss of a Leader
A portrait of Rufino Dominguez-Santos. (Courtesy Centro Binacional para el Desarollo Indigena Oaxaqueno)
Indigenous Immigrants in California Mourn the Loss of a Leader
Fellow community activist Leoncio Vasquez Santos says when Dominguez-Santos first got here he was like other farm workers, except "he saw the injustices against the immigrant communities, especially the indigenous people, and he didn’t just watch as other people will do and be quiet."
Dominguez-Santos began working with California Rural Legal Assistance. He taught indigenous workers the importance of not being afraid to organize, Vasquez Santos says, and "of not being ashamed of speaking our language, and learning about labor rights, our rights as immigrants."
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He was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and died at home on Nov. 11. He was 53 years old.
"Wherever Rufino is right now," Vasquez Santos says, "[he can] rest assured that we will continue his work, that we will continue his legacy."
Dominguez-Santos will be buried in Oaxaca.