Bien Hecho: Rigoberta Menchú To Run For Guatemalan President

Nobel Peace Prize winner and longtime Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchú has announced that she plans to seek her country’s presidency this month. This would be the second time she seeks this office. She founded an indigenous political coalition, Winaq, earlier this month that’s aligned with a leftist coalition in order to seek the office.

Menchú would be Guatemala’s first indigenous and first female president.

Menchú is part of Guatemala’s indigenous Quiche community and became active in politics when she was a teenager. As that country’s politics became increasingly violent, both she and her family faced violent opposition to their efforts. Eventually Menchú’s father, mother and brother were tortured and killed by the Guatemalan Army; she responded by learning other indigenous languages and Spanish and continued organizing, until eventually she was forced to flee to Mexico.

Nobelprize.org, which awarded Menchú the prestigious Peace Prize in 1992 writes of her life:

In 1982, she took part in the founding of the joint opposition body, The United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Menchú, is a gripping human document which attracted considerable international attention. In 1986, Rigoberta Menchú became a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC, and the following year she performed as the narrator in a powerful film called When the Mountains Tremble, about the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people. On at least three occasions, Rigoberta Menchú has returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of the Indian peasants, but death threats have forced her to return into exile.

Over the years, Rigoberta Menchú has become widely known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation, not only in Guatemala but in the Western Hemisphere generally, and her work has earned her several international awards.

In our weekly segment, “Bien Hecho,” we note the good deeds and achievements of Latinos across the U.S. and Latin America. If you feel that someone you know is deserving of recognition, let us know at tips@newstaco.com.