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Menchú Túm, Rigoberta 
              (1959- )
Guatemalan activist for human rights and for the rights of indigenous peoples. Born in northwestern Guatemala, Menchú grew up in a poor, traditional Quiché farming community in the highlands, the daughter of respected village elders. Extreme poverty and unsafe labor conditions led to the death of several of her siblings and friends while she was still a child. Menchú never attended school, and at the age of eight she began to work as a migrant agricultural laborer alongside her family on large coastal farms. Later she worked for a short time as a maid in Guatemala City. As an adult, Menchú joined several members of her family in revolutionary action against the military for committing human-rights abuses. The response of the Guatemalan military to her family’s protest and resistance was so violent that eventually Menchú’s life was in danger. In 1981, after being hunted by authorities in Guatemala, Menchú went into exile. Like thousands of other Guatemalan refugees, she stayed mostly in Mexico. Soon she began to give lectures to make the international public aware of the plight of the native peoples of Guatemala.

Her book, Me Llamo Rigoberta Menchú Y Asi Nació La Concienca (1983; translated as I, Rigoberta Menchú, 1984), which was dictated in 1982 to Venezuelan anthropologist Elizabeth Burgos Debray, quickly became famous both as a portrait of a little-known culture and as a controversial version of Guatemala’s internal conflicts during the 1970s and 1980s. As a result of her book, Menchú became a popular symbol of the inhuman treatment endured by aboriginal and marginalized peoples. Her testimonial recounts the events of her life—including the murder of her father, mother, and brother—as particularly brutal examples of the increasing destruction of indigenous cultures in Guatemala.

In recognition of her efforts to promote social justice in Guatemala, Menchú was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 (see Nobel Prizes). After receiving the prize, Menchú was able to return to Guatemala and work for change.

Contributed By: 
Diane E. Marting 
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia
 

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