Cindy Domingo (b. 1953) is a longtime community activist in Seattle. She was active in the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP), the Washington State Rainbow Coalition, the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes (CJDV), the Center for Social Justice, and organized Seattle International Women’s Day events. Domingo also created the U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration after attending the 1995 World Conference for Women and becoming friends with the Cuban delegation. Domingo worked for the Central Area Motivation Program, coordinated Larry Gossett’s first run for the King County Council, and was his chief of staff on the council until 2020.
This image shows Cindy Domingo and a supporter celebrating former dictator of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) and his wife Imelda (1929- ) being found liable in a civil suit for the murders of Filipino-American activists and union reform leaders Silme Domingo (1952-1981) and Gene Viernes (1951-1981). Cindy Domingo is Silme’s sister. Domingo and Viernes’ families received $15.1 million in damages. Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes were murdered in Seattle on June 1, 1981, at the offices of Local 37 of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU). Two gunmen were immediately captured, and the murders were originally thought to be an isolated act of violence. However, a decade long investigation spurred on by the CJDV showed that the murders were political assassinations with far-reaching connections. After the Marcoses were found liable in this civil suit, Constantine “Tony” Baruso (1928-2008), a former ILWU Local 37 president, was charged and convicted in a criminal case of organizing the killings at Marcos’ order in retaliation for the victims' anti-Marcos organizing through the Seattle chapter of Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP). The investigation also proved that the US government knew about the assassinations and shielded the Marcos dictatorship from accountability.
Caption information source: “Marcoses are ruled liable in cannery worker murders,” by Steve Miletich, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 16, 1989, page A1.
