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 Rigoberta Menchú Tum   Guatemala, 1992

Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Guatemala, 1992

Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Mayan k’iche’ activist born in 1959 in Chimel, a small Mayan community in the highlands of Guatemala. As a young girl, Rigoberta traveled alongside her father, Vincente Menchú, from community to community teaching rural campesinos their rights and encouraging them to organize.

In 1960, ethnic and socioeconomic tensions engrained since colonization spurred a brutal civil war against the Mayan people. The military dictatorship, under the leadership of Efraín Ríos Montt, and rich landowners initiated the bloodshed. By the time a peace agreement was signed in 1996, 450 Mayan villages were destroyed, over 200,000 Guatemalans murdered and 1 million were displaced.

Rigoberta and her family mobilized Guatemalans during the war to denounce government-led mass atrocities. Their activism came at a great cost. At a peaceful protest held at the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City in 1980, Rigoberta’s father and thirty-seven other campesino activists were murdered in a fire. Not long after, the Guatemalan army tortured and murdered Rigoberta’s brother and mother. At age 21, Rigoberta fled into exile.

Rigoberta spoke publicly about the plight of the Mayan people in Guatemala while in exile. In 1983 she published I, Rigoberta Menchú and catapulted the civil war into global headlines. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples. After receiving the prize Rigoberta returned to Guatemala and established the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation (FRMT) to support Mayan communities and survivors of the genocide as they seek justice. Rigoberta and the Foundation have been key in advocating for justice in several high profile cases in Guatemala, including the trial against former dictator Efrain Ríos Montt in May 2013, the Spanish Embassy massacre in January 2015, and the case of 14 survivors of sexual violence in Sepur Zarco in February 2016.

Rigoberta ran for President of Guatemala in 2007 and 2011 under the banner of WINAQ, the first indigenous-led political party founded by herself. In 2013 the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) appointed her as a Special Investigator within its Multicultural Nation Program. She continues to seek justice for all Mayan people impacted by the genocide.

"Only together can we move forward, so that there is light and hope for all women on the planet."

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The Laureates

Jody Williams

USA

Shirin Ebadi

Iran

Leymah Gbowee

Liberia

Tawakkol Karman

Yemen

Maria Ressa

Philippines

Narges Mohammadi

Iran

Oleksandra Matviichuk

Ukraine

Related Links

In the media

Rigoberta Menchu Tum and the 2024 Nobel Nomination. Texas Border Business. 07 March 2024.

Indigenous Latin American Heroes You Should Know. HipLatina. 12 October 2023.

From Rigoberta Menchú Tum to Narges Mohammadi; 6 Women who won Nobel Peace Price Fighting All Odds till date. Free Press Journal. 06 October 2023. 

UIW Welcomes Rigoberta Menchú Tum. University of the Incarnate World. 06 October 2023.

Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum opens 2023 PeaceJam Ghana Conference. Metro TV. 17 June 2023.

Books and Films

Book: I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. Published on 12 January 2010.

Book: Crossing Borders. Published on 17 August 1998.

Film: When the Mountains Tremble. 

Film: Granito

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