Rigoberta Menchú was born
on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and was raised in the Quiche
branch of the Mayan culture. In the first few years of her life she worked
alongside her family in farm work, either where they lived or on the Pacific Coast,
where both women and children worked in big plantations picking coffee. He
father was peasant organizer, for the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC), who
was killed when security forces stormed the Spanish Embassy where
he and some other peasants were staying. Her brother was a guerilla member who
was arrested and killed by the army in 1979. Soon after she their deaths, her
mother was arrested and also died. Before her family’s tragic death she too had
joined the CUC, in 1979.
She first became involved
in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and when she only a
teenager she became prominent in the women’s rights movement. In 1980, she
figured prominently in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for
farm workers on the Pacific coast, and on May 1, 1981, she was active in large
demonstrations in the capital. In 1982, was part of the founding of The United
Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG)
In 1981 Menchú had to
flee the country due to the fact that the military was targeting political leaders
in Guatemala. While in exile she became internationally famous through
interviews, speeches, and in1938, she told her life story to Elisabeth
Burgos-Debray which resulted in the book, called in English, I, Rigoberta
Menchú. Her book mergers her life and the life of other people, in it she
describes so much horror that existed during the Cold War in Guatemala. The
book opens with these words: “This is my testimony...I’d like to stress that
it’s not only my life, it’s also the testimony of my people...My personal
experience is the reality of a whole people.” While some of the facts in the
book were later questioned, the story remains an indictment of the exploitation
of Guatemala’s Indians and has been widely distributed throughout the world.
In 1996, all of
Rigoberta’s non-violent work, along with the struggles of so many other
activists, helped lead to a peace accord in Guatemala. This agreement ended
Guatemala’s 36-year civil war and gave many rights back to the Mayan people. After
the civil war ended, Rigoberta fought to have the Guatemalan political and
military establishment tried in a court of law. She knew the trial would never
happen in Guatemala, so she took the case to Spanish courts. In December 2006
the Spanish courts called for the extradition of seven former members of the
Guatemalan government on charges of torture and genocide against the Mayan
people of Guatemala.
Over the years, Rigoberta
Menchú has become widely known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and
ethnic-cultural reconciliation, not only in Guatemala but in the Western
Hemisphere, her work has earned her several international awards, such as the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1992. In 1996 she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO. In
1993 with her prize she helped found the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation which
has aided the return of exiled Indigenous Guatemalans.
Sources
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