Cariño was the director of the Centro de Apoyo Comunitario Trabajando Unidos (CACTUS) community organization, based in Oaxaca, Mexico.

[1] Cariño was Mixtec and an advocate for food sovereignty, community water management, soil conservation and the right to autonomy for indigenous peoples in Mexico.

[6] On April 27, 2010, she was killed when paramilitaries ambushed a caravan on its way to the indigenous autonomous community of San Juan Copala.

The caravan, including local and international human rights observers, was delivering food to the community which has been under a blockade from paramilitaries allied with the state government.

[1][7] The gunmen also killed Jyri Jaakkola, a Finnish human rights activist, and more than ten people were wounded.