Alí Domínguez (; 7 March 1992 – 6 March 2019) was a

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, student politician at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, and political party leader. He was murdered in 2019; police believe his murder was politically motivated.

Early life

Domínguez was one of five siblings, at least one of whom disagreed with his political actions. He had completed graduation requirements at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, where he studied Social Communications, but was not allowed to graduate. This is because he reported accounts of the university management that were negative towards the institution.

Career

Politics

Domínguez had attended the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, which teaches in line with Chavist ideology. He was a supporter of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

, describing himself as a "dissident Chavista", but was critical of

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

. During his time as a student representative he began to speak out against corruption at the university, for which he received death threats. He suffered an attack that was reportedly committed by people hired by university management. At the time of his death he was the leader of the political group Movimiento Amplio Desafío de Todos, a Chavist faction that opposes Maduro, and occasionally participated in anti-Maduro demonstrations. Dissident Chavists are often the subject of personal violations in Venezuela, with 45 recent cases.

Journalism

As a journalist, he started investigating corruption of the state. He had been in contact with major political parties in Venezuela in discussion of cases of corruption linked to Maduro.

Disappearance and murder

Domínguez disappeared on 28 February 2019 in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

after attending a meeting for volunteers about bringing humanitarian aid into Venezuela, and was found on the side of

Francisco Fajardo Freeway The Francisco Fajardo Highway one of the most important freeways of Caracas, connecting the west and east sides of the city. The national freeways and many of the avenues of Caracas are not designated with a system of codification or numbering; ...

on the morning of 1 March 2019. According to missing posters, he was last seen in Los Cortijos. His family were not immediately informed, and had also been turned away by the police when trying to file a missing person's report; they were referred to intelligence services because of the political nature of the case due to Domínguez's positions. They then started a social media campaign with the hashtag "#QueAparezcaAliDominguez" (Hope that Alí Domínguez will appear) on 3 March, also looking for Domínguez in hospitals but being turned away after showing photos. His family became aware of his location on 5 March, to identify his

comatose A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. The person may ...

body. Doctors then announced he had been admitted earlier. He was taken to the Hospital Domingo Luciani on 1 March, where he died early on the morning of 6 March, one day shy of his 27th birthday; his death has been accounted as murder. Police reported that his skull was fractured, his nose and several limbs were broken, and his teeth had been pulled. The police have not named suspects. He was reported to have been receiving more death threats shortly before his disappearance, telling his family and friends to keep fighting for his causes should something happen.

Reactions

Commenting on the murder, former

United States Ambassador to Venezuela The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to Venezuela. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.'' The a ...

Charles Shapiro said that it was "repression" tactics, blaming the government because they "don't know what to do" whilst losing credibility. Carlos Vecchio, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States appointed by

Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Antonio Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician and opposition figure. He belonged to the social-democratic party Popular Will, and was a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of V ...

's government, said that they "deeply condemn the murder of the journalist Alí Domínguez" and congratulated him for recognizing Maduro's corruption and aligning himself with the opposition despite being chavista.

Popular Will Popular Will (, abbr. VP) is a political party in Venezuela founded by former Mayor of Chacao, Leopoldo López, who is its national co-ordinator. The party previously held 14 out of 167 seats in the Venezuelan National Assembly, the country ...

, Guaidó's party, called for a "thorough investigation". The

Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas The Scientific, Penal and Criminalistic Investigation Service Corps (, CICPC) is Venezuela's largest national police agency, responsible for criminal investigations and Forensic science, forensic services. It replaced the Cuerpo Técnico de Pol ...

(CICPC) began an investigation, with family and friends saying it was clearly deliberate and that they were not surprised.

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noted that there were over 900

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s in Venezuela, 36 of whom are journalists, asking why only with Domínguez's death were people experiencing "outrage".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominguez, Ali 1992 births 2019 deaths Assassinated Venezuelan journalists People of the Crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan political journalists Venezuelan politicians People from Trujillo (state) 2019 murders in Venezuela Journalists killed in Venezuela