source: IRTF
LINKS
Program book here: https://jumpshare.com/share/S9zVUYRXWxN6pmDzq1Ep
Recording of the interfaith service and speaker program here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IIWBIifLN0
Thank you to all who gathered with IRTF on November 9 for our annual commemoration event to mark the 45th anniversary of the sacrifice of four US women missioners in El Salvador. In December 1980, Jean Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel (from Cleveland) were brutally killed alongside Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke by US-sponsored military in El Salvador. Maryknoll Sister Carla Piette had died a few months before in a flash flood while transporting a man who had just been released from prison. In response to these horrific tragedies, people of faith and conscience in Cleveland founded IRTF as a way to carry forward their legacy—taking action in solidarity with oppressed and marginalized communities as they struggle for peace, dignity, and justice.
Our guest speaker was Sebastián Torogóz of Los Torogoces de Morazán, the resistance folklore band connected to community radio Radio Venceremos. He shared some of the incredible challenges facing the people of El Salvador and the connection to their collective memory of the war years of the 1970s and ‘80s. The country is experiencing its most severe threats to democracy since the civil war ended in 1992. The “State of Exception,” now in its fourth year, has led to more than 400 deaths among the 90,000+ incarcerated in a massive arrest sweep by police and military, which includes the indefinite detention of political dissidents. El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, even topping that of the United States. (We are grateful to our partners at the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America for making this book and music tour possible.)
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS ASSASSINATED
On Sunday, November 9, 2025, we also commemorated the lives of human rights defenders in Central America and Colombia lost this past year for their brave outspokenness against injustices in their communities. Named during our service were the 33 victims of assassinations for whom our Rapid Response Team wrote letters calling for transparent investigations and accountability for the intellectual and material authors of these killings.
COLOMBIA
William Molina (Nov 5, 2024). The 52-year-old leader of a transportation union was shot multiple times while buying spare parts for his vehicle in Cali, Valle del Cauca Department; this happened just after he left a meeting with a labor rights lawyer
Jimmy Alejandro Rosero Chávez (Nov 5, 2024). The human rights ombudsman of Cumbitara, Nariño Department, was kidnapped while participating in a meeting with other public officials; his lifeless body was found with bullet wounds three hours later
Jorge Enrique Cano Jaramillo (Feb 7, 2025). The 49-year-old school teacher, who was widely recognized for his commitment to rural education, was shot while he was on his way to school in Santo Domingo, Antioquia Department.
Édgar Tumiñá Gembuel (Mar 1, 2025). The Nasa Indigenous leader, age 48, was shot nine times in the head by armed men on a motorcycle shot in Toribío, Cauca Department.
Martin Emilio Acevedo Quiceño (Mar 1, 2025). The family of this 55-year-old school teacher (an active member of the Antioquia Teachers Association in Caldas, Antioquia Department) last saw him alive on March 1 when he left his house to walk his dog. His half-naked body was found the next day in a wooded area with stab wounds to the chest and blunt force trauma to the head.
Jaime Alonso Gallego Gómez (Mar 9, 2025). On March 3 the 57-year-old labor leader and environmental defender who led resistance to large-scale multinational mining in Vegachí, Antioquia Department, was disappeared, along with his body guard, when the GPS tracker of their National Protection Unit (UNP) vehicle was deactivated. He was found dead six days later after gunshots were heard in the early morning.
Diego Alexander Herrera Carranza (Mar 14, 2025). The active member of the Barrancabermeja Victims' Participation Roundtable (Santander Department) was shot repeatedly while he was sitting in a public establishment
Sara Millerey González (Apr 4, 2025). The 32-year-old transgender activist had her extremities beaten and broken until she was thrown alive into the Playa Rica River in Bello, Antioquia Department, and left to die. Pulled from the water, she suffered from hypothermia and had a punctured lung. She died of cardiac arrest.
Maryuri Hernández, Jesús Valero, James Caicedo, Óscar García, Nixón Peñaloza, Maribel Silva, Isaid Gómez, and Carlos Valero (Apr 4-5, 2025). Each of these Protestant church leaders in Calamar, Guaviare Department, was summoned to meet individually with an illegal armed group; none returned from their appointments. Months later a mass grave was discovered.
William Ferney Pazú Toconás (Jun 20, 2025). The 23-year-old Indigenous cultural leader from Vitoyó village in Jambaló, Cauca Department, taught traditional Indigenous music and instruments to children and young adults. Just meters away from where a festival had taken place over the weekend, residents found his body, showing signs of deadly violence
Fernanda Domicó (Jul 24, 2025). Widely recognized for her advocacy as an Indigenous social leader of the Embera people and for her visibility as a trans woman, she served as the chief of the fire deepartment of Dabeiba, Antioquia Department. Her body was found alongside a creek on a farm, with several stab wounds to her head and face.
Jhon Fader Santiago Galvis (Sep 2, 2025). The former FARC rebel and signatory of the 2016 Peace Agreement had been carrying out his reincorporation process in Cocorná, Antioquia Department, since 2024. Local residents found his body on the banks of a river, showing multiple bullet wounds and serious burns on his skin, suggesting an attempt at cremation.
GUATEMALA
Marco Antonio Zuleta Quevedo (May 9, 2025). The environmental defender was shot while walking home in Usumatlán, Zacapa Department. He had worked as a ranger and forest firefighter to protect the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve (the largest cloud forest habitat in Central America and home to nearly 600 animal species, 2,000 flora, and around 280,000 people) against illegal mining.
Misael Mata Ascencio (May 14, 2025). The environmental defender active in the anti-mining resistance formed by 54 communities in the Sierra Santa Cruz was working as a farm security guard in a rural community near Livingston, Izabal Department, when two men took him by surprise, beat him, took his gun, and shot him twice.
HONDURAS
Arnulfo Díaz (Jan 2, 2025). The member of Cooperativa Brisas del Aguán (Bajo Aguán Valley) was forced off the road and shot by armed actors at the San Pedro River
José Luis Hernández Lobo and Suyapa Guillén (Feb 2, 2025). The active members of the Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez (Bajo Aguán Valley) were shot when their vehicle was intercepted by armed actors in Rigores
Douglas Alexander Pereira (May 13, 2025). While carrying out his security duties at a small convenience store on the El Tumbador campesino cooperative farm in Guadalupe Carney, Trujillo, Colón Department, he was shot by two armed men.
Josué Esaú Aguilar Cárcamo (May 31, 2025). The 22-year-old son of Guadalupe Cárcamo, one of the leaders of the Gregorio Chávez Campesino Enterprise in the community of Panamá, Colón Department, was riddled with bullets as he rode his motorcycle in the nearby community of Rigores.
Carlos Antonio Rivas Canales and his father Ramón Rivas Baquedano (Jul 17, 2025). These two members of campesino collective farms in the Bajo Aguán Valley (Carlos: Empresa Campesina Gregorio; Ramón: Empresa Asociativa Campesina de Producción La Aurora), were ambushed by heavily armed men while on their way to work
Héctor Otoniel Hernández Castro (Jul 26, 2025). The brother of the sub-coordinator of the Agrarian Platform and member of Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez (Bajo Aguán Valley) was shot by armed men while working in the fields in Cuyamel
Abel Monroy (Aug 1, 2025). The father-in-law of an active member of Cooperativa El Chile who had previously been threatened was shot while driving to work in Bonito Oriental
MEXICO
Father Marcelo Pérez (Oct 20, 2024). The 51-year-old Indigenous Tzotzil Catholic parish priest and human rights defender in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, was shot while driving to church
Adriana and Virginia Ortiz García (Nov 5, 2024). The Triqui Indigenous defenders (cousins) were active leaders in the Triqui Unification and Struggle Movement (MULT). Two unknown assailants shot them while they were exiting a taxi near their home in Oaxaca’s historic center.
CO-SPONSORS of the 45th annual Commemoration of the Martyrs
We thank all the organizations who supported us with a co-sponsorship donation, including:
ACLU of Ohio (American Civil Liberties Union)
AMIS/NE Ohio Friends of Immigrants
Christian Church in Ohio (Disciples of Christ)
Church of St Dominic
Church of the Gesu
CISPES: Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Cleveland Catholic Worker
Cleveland Jobs with Justice
Cleveland Nonviolence Network
Cleveland Peace Action
COAR Peace Mission (Casa Oscar Arnulfo Romero)
Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance
Community of St Peter
Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph
CRISPAZ: Christians for Peace in El Salvador
CRLN: Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus
Disciples Justice Action Network
Disciples Peace Fellowship
Equal Exchange
FOR: Fellowship of Reconciliation
Forest Hill Church Presbyterian
Friends of Nickie J. Antonio (Ohio State Senator, District 33)
FutureChurch
Ida B Wells Foundation
Ignatian Solidarity Network
Jewish Voice for Peace
John Carroll University Campus Ministry
Lake Catholic High School
LAWG: Latin America Working Group
Margaret W Wong & Associates
NEO Sierra Club
NEO Worker Center
Oficina del Ministerio Hispano – Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ
St Barnabas Episcopal Church
St Ignatius High School
St Mary Catholic Church (Painesville)
St Patrick Parish with St Malachi Oratory
St Paul’s Community Church
Sisters of Charity of St Augustine
Sisters of Notre Dame
Spates Accounting Services
The Vegan Collective
Urban Community School
West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church
LINKS
Program book here: https://jumpshare.com/share/S9zVUYRXWxN6pmDzq1Ep
Recording of the interfaith service and speaker program here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IIWBIifLN0
RAFFLE/SILENT AUCTION
Thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets and bid on auction items, both online and at the event. Congratulations to all the winners!
With deep appreciation,
IRTF board and staff
IRTF mission: to call together people in NE Ohio—and across the US—to act in solidarity with oppressed peoples of Central America and Colombia to achieve peace, justice, human rights, and systemic transformation through nonviolence.
