The Murders of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes
Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes were murdered on June 1, 1981, as they worked in their offices of the Alaska Cannery Workers Union, Local 37 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). At the time of their deaths, both were leading members of the KDP, Seattle Chapter and newly elected officers of Local 37. Domingo and Viernes won office as leaders of a reform slate that vowed to end bribery for jobs and organized gambling enterprises in the Alaska canneries and to transform the union into one that would fight for better wages and working conditions.
In the aftermath of their murders, a broad coalition called the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes (CJDV) was formed led by the KDP and the families of Silme and Gene with the mission of winning justice in the murders. In the first year after the murders, the CJDV was successful in ensuring that the hitmen were prosecuted and given life sentences without parole. However, it was the CJDV that uncovered the evidence that led to the 1989 Federal civil suit trial of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos for Silme and Gene’s deaths where the Marcoses and fellow co-conspirators were found liable for the deaths resulting in a $23.5 million judgement for the Domingo and Viernes families. In 1991, the President of Local 37, Tony Baruso, was found guilty and given a life sentence without parole for organizing the murders and hiring the assassins.
The Domingo and Viernes civil suit resulted in a landmark verdict, making it the only time a foreign dictator has ever been found liable for the murders of US citizens in the US. However, the other alleged co-conspirator, US government and US intelligence agencies, who were originally defendants in the Domingo and Viernes civil suit, have never been brought to justice for their role in spying and harassing the US based anti-Marcos movement and their possible roles which led to the murders of Silme and Gene and the cover-up after the murders.
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