Rigoberta Menchú Túm is an indigenous Mayan woman from the Republic of Guatemala. She was born in 1961 in the tiny village of Chimel in the central Guatemalan state of El Quiché. With her brothers and sisters, Rigoberta lived with her mother and campesino (peasant) father, Vincente Menchú. Unlike other Mayan children, however, Rigoberta was encouraged by her father to get an education, to learn to read and write Spanish as well as her native language of Quiché.

Vincente Menchú was an active community leader who took a wide interest in what was happening in the highlands in the late 1960s and 70s. After the discovery of rich mineral deposits and pockets of oil and natural gas, wealthy landowners conspired with the Guatemalan army--often in their hire--to seize the lands from the indigenous populations. The twenty-two Maya cultures, who account for more than sixty percent of the population, have been, by far, the very poorest sectors of Guatemalan society, marginalized for centuries by militarily more powerful European colonizers who arrived in the Guatemalan highlands in the 1520s.

Vincente Menchú began to organize the members of his community to protest attempts to drive them from their homes. In January, 1980, he orchestrated the first indigenous protest, leading hundreds of Mayan farmers for a march on the Guatemalan National Palace in Guatemala City. By the time their small party reached the Plaza Major in front of the Palace, their ranks had swelled to almost 10,000 supporters. The government and army had seen nothing like it. On the last day of the protest, Rigoberta's father, along with about thirty others, took their protest to the Spanish Embassy. Once inside the gates, the protestors and all others, including staff and visitors, were firebombed and brutally murdered by the Guatemalan security forces. Only the Ambassador escaped, and Spain broke diplomatic relations with Guatemala.

After the death of her father, Rigoberta and her family came under ruthless repression by the military. Her sixteen year-old brother was kidnapped by the army, accused of being a communist, brutally tortured, and then burned alive before the horrified citizens of a neighboring community who were forced to watch the assassination. Her mother was then seized, similarly tortured, and finally killed by the army. Rigoberta herself became a target, and she fled for sanctuary in Huehuetenango, a large Guatemalan city in the Western Highlands. But even there, military intelligence was able to track her. After narrowly escaping an attempt to grab her off the streets, she fled to Mexico with the help of the Catholic Church.

In Mexico, members of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission heard her story and encouraged her to attend an international woman's conference in Paris. With the help of friends and supporters, the twenty-three year old Mayan woman was able to do so. Anthropologist Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, a French-speaking Latin American, heard Rigoberta's incredible story and urged her to dictate her autobiography which she helped her publish. After her book, I, Rigoberta Menchú's publication, Rigoberta became increasingly sought after around the world. In 1992, the United Nations' "International Year of the Indigenous," Rigoberta Menchú was selected for the Nobel Peace Prize, much to the embarrassment of the army and the hardliners in the Guatemalan government.

From her exalted position now as an international leader and spokesperson for indigenous populations world-wide, Rigoberta has returned to Guatemala after many years of exile and is now married. She has played a very active role in the development of the United Nations-brokered peace accords which were signed this December 29th, 1996.

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