View source for Rigoberta Menchú

{{Short description|K'iche' Guatemalan human rights activist (born 1959)}}
{{Redirect|Menchu}}
{{family name hatnote|Menchú|Tum|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Rigoberta Menchú
| image              = 20240620 NP PRESIDENTE BERNARDO AREVALO Y KARIN HERRERA PARTICIPAN EN DIALOGO PREMIO NOBEL DE LA PAZ 054 (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Menchú in 2024
| birthname          = Rigoberta Menchú Tum
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1959|1|9|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Laj Chimel]], [[Quiché Department|Quiché]], Guatemala
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| occupation         = Activist, politician
| party              = [[Winaq]] (founder)
| spouse             = {{Marriage|Ángel Canil|1995}}
| children           = 2 (1 deceased)
| mother             = Juana Tum Kótoja
| father             = Vicente Menchú Pérez
| awards             = [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1992<br />[[Prince of Asturias Awards]] in 1998<br />[[Order of the Aztec Eagle]] in 2010
}}

'''Rigoberta Menchú Tum''' ({{IPA|es|riɣoˈβeɾta menˈtʃu|lang}}; born 9 January 1959)<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2020/01/09/UPI-Almanac-for-Thursday-Jan-9-2020/6871578415895/|title= UPI Almanac |work= [[United Press International]] | date= 9 January 2020|access-date=15 January 2020 |archive-date= 15 January 2020|archive-url= https://archive.today/20200115192229/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2020/01/09/UPI-Almanac-for-Thursday-Jan-9-2020/6871578415895/|url-status=live|quote=… Guatemalan activist/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu in 1959 (age 61)}}</ref> is a [[K'iche' people|K'iche']] Guatemalan [[human rights defender|human rights activist]], [[Indigenous feminism|feminist]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous Feminist Narratives|year = 2015|doi=10.1057/9781137531315|last1 = Dulfan |first1 = Isabel|isbn = 978-1-349-50686-6}}</ref> and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples during and after the [[Guatemalan Civil War]] (1960–1996), and to promoting [[Indigenous rights]] internationally.<ref name=":25">{{cite web|title="Rigoberta Menchú." ''Encyclopedia of World Biography Online'', Gale, 1998. ''Gale in Context: Biography''| url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631004473/BIC?u=unlv_main&sid=BIC&xid=13ab26e5|url-access=limited|access-date=27 September 2019}}</ref>

She received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1992, was named a [[UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador]] in 1996, and received the [[Prince of Asturias Award]] in 1998. She is the subject of the testimonial biography ''I, Rigoberta Menchú'' (1983) and author of the autobiographical work, ''Crossing Borders'' (1998). Menchú founded the country's first indigenous political party, [[Winaq]],<ref name="nobelwomensinitiative.org">{{Cite web |title=Meet Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Women's Initiative |url=https://nobelwomensinitiative.org/laureate/rigoberta-menchu-tum/ |access-date=2019-11-21 |website=Nobel Women's Initiative |language=en-US}}</ref> and ran as its candidate for [[president of Guatemala]] in the [[2007 Guatemalan general election|2007]] and [[2011 Guatemalan general election|2011]] presidential elections.

==Personal life==
Rigoberta Menchú was born to a poor Indigenous family of K'iche' Maya descent in [[Laj Chimel]], a rural area in the north-central Guatemalan department of [[Quiché Department|El Quiché]].<ref name=nobel>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1992/tum-bio.html|title=Rigoberta Menchú Tum – Biographical|publisher=Nobelprize.org|year=2013|access-date=16 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829175739/http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1992/tum-bio.html|archive-date=29 August 2008}}</ref> Her family was one of many Indigenous families who could not sustain themselves on the small pieces of land they were left with after the [[Spanish conquest of Guatemala]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ualberta.kanopy.com/product/rigoberta-menchu|title=Rigoberta Menchu {{!}} Kanopy|website=ualberta.kanopy.com|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> Menchú's mother began her career as a [[midwife]] at age sixteen and continued to practice using traditional medicinal plants until she was murdered at age 43. Her father was a prominent activist for the rights of Indigenous farmers in Guatemala.<ref name=":28" /> Both of her parents regularly attended Catholic church, but her mother remained connected to her [[Maya religion|Maya spirituality]] and identity.<ref name=":28" /> She believes in many teachings of the Catholic Church, but her mother's Maya influence also taught Menchú the importance of living in harmony with nature and retaining her Maya culture.<ref name=":28">{{Cite web|url=https://ezpa.library.ualberta.ca/ezpAuthen.cgi?url=https://fod.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=29180|title=University of Alberta Libraries|website=ezpa.library.ualberta.ca|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref> Menchú considers herself to be the perfect mix of both her parents.<ref name=":28" />

In 1979–80, Menchú's brother, Patrocinio, and mother, Juana Tum Kótoja, were kidnapped, brutally tortured and murdered by the [[Armed Forces of Guatemala|Guatemalan Army]].<ref name=":25" /> Her father, Vicente Menchú Perez, died in the 1980 [[Burning of the Spanish Embassy]], which occurred after urban guerrillas took hostages and were attacked by government security forces.<ref name=":19">{{cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/rigoberta-menchu-vindicated/#|title=Rigoberta Menchú Vindicated|last=Grandin|first=Greg|work=The Nation|access-date=27 November 2017}}</ref> In January 2015, Pedro García Arredondo, a former police commander of the Guatemalan Army who later served as the chief of the now defunct [[Policía Nacional Civil (Guatemala)#History|National Police]] (Policía Nacional, PN),<ref name=expolicechiefconvicted>{{cite news|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/08/guatemala-former-police-chief-convicted-1980s-disappearance-case/|title=Guatemala: Former police chief convicted in 1980s disappearance case|publisher=Amnesty Intertional|date=2012-08-22|access-date=2022-01-18}}</ref> was convicted of attempted murder and crimes against humanity for his role in the embassy attack;<ref name=":19" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/pedro-garcia-arredondo/|title=Pedro García Arredondo|website=TrialInternational.org|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> Arrendondo was also previously convicted in 2012 of ordering the enforced disappearance of agronomy student Édgar Enrique Sáenz Calito during the country's long-running internal armed conflict.<ref name=expolicechiefconvicted />

In 1984, Menchú's other brother, Victor, was shot to death after he surrendered to the Guatemalan Army, was threatened by soldiers, and tried to escape.<ref name=":26">{{Cite web|url=https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/-iwd2019-rigoberta-menchu-tum_11110_pk|title=#IWD2019 –Rigoberta Menchú Tum|website=Multimedia Centre|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>

In 1995, Menchú married Ángel Canil, a Guatemalan, in a Mayan ceremony. They had a Catholic wedding in January 1998; at that time they also buried their son Tz'unun ("hummingbird" in K’iche’ Maya), who had died after being born prematurely in December.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=A day of joy, grief for Nobel winner |date=1998-01-18 |page=A17 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/647855726/ |work=[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]] |access-date=2020-04-27 |url-access=subscription |agency=Associated Press |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> They adopted a son, Mash Nahual Ja' ("Spirit of Water").<ref>Irwin Abrams, ''The Nobel Peace Prize and the Laureates: An Illustrated Biographical History'', Watson Publishing International, 2001, p. 296. {{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Trouble for Rigoberta |date=1999-06-20 |url=https://www.newsweek.com/trouble-rigoberta-167162 |work=[[Newsweek]] |access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref>

Menchú featured prominently in the 1983 documentary ''[[When the Mountains Tremble]]'', directed by Newton Thomas Sigel and [[Pamela Yates]].

She lives with her family in the municipality of [[San Pedro Jocopilas]], [[Quiché Department]], northwest of Guatemala City, in the heartland of the Kʼicheʼ people.

== Connections to the Guatemalan civil war ==
Following military coups that started with the CIA-orchestrated removal of President Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954, the Cuban revolution of 1959, and the Che Guevara's commitment to create as many Vietnams as he could, the U.S. moved to condone and often support authoritarian rule in the name of national security.<ref name=":30">{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135244958 |title=State Violence and Genocide in Latin America |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-24495-8 |editor-last=Esparza |editor-first=Marcia |language=en |doi=10.4324/9780203867907 |editor-last2=Huttenbach |editor-first2=Henry R. |editor-last3=Feierstein |editor-first3=Daniel}}</ref> The [[Guatemalan Civil War]] lasted from 1962 to 1996 and was provoked by social, economic, and political inequality. An estimated 250,000 people were assassinated, including 50,000 ''desaparecidos,'' and hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals, either at the hands of the armed forces or the militarized civilians knows as ''[[Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil]]'' (Civil Defense Patrols).<ref name=":30"/> This made people nervous since arming civilians, let alone Indigenous peoples, was not a very common occurrence in Guatemala and was, in fact, illegal according to the country's constitution.<ref name=":30"/>

Massacres of Indigenous men, women, and children in Guatemala began in May 1978, culminating in 1982.<ref name=":30" /> By 1981 the US [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) was reporting on the indiscriminate killing of civilians in rural areas, government soldiers being "forced to fire at anything that moved".<ref name=":30"/> In 1982 the CIA reported several villages being burned to the ground while Guatemalan commanding officers were "expected to give no quarter to combats and non-combats alike".<ref name=":30"/>

These inequalities were most impactful on marginalized populations, especially indigenous communities. To maintain order, the state implemented forceful measures that often, violated human rights. This ultimately led to mass genocide, disappearances, and displacement of indigenous populations. 83% of victims were later identified as Mayan, indicating that a majority of human rights violated were those of the Indigenous communities of Guatemala. These events had a deep impact on Menchú and her family and were the root cause of her activism in Indigenous rights.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guatemala Memory of Silence: Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification Conclusions and Recommendations |url=https://hrdag.org/publications/guatemala-memory-of-silence-report-of-the-commission-for-historical-clarification-conclusions-and-recommendations/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=HRDAG – Human Rights Data Analysis Group |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Guatemalan activism ==
From a young age, Menchú was active alongside her father. Together they advocated for the rights of Indigenous farmers through the [[Committee for Peasant Unity]].<ref name=":29">{{Cite web|url=https://course-resources.minerva.kgi.edu/uploaded_files/mke/nAXkZr/i-rigoberta-menchu-excerpts.pdf|title=I, Rigoberta Menchu Excerpts|last=Menchu|first=Rigoberta|date=1984}}</ref><ref name=":28" /> Menchú often faced discrimination for wanting to join her male family members in the fight for justice, but she was inspired by her mother to continue making space for herself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/texts/rigoberta-menchu|title=Rigoberta Menchú|date=2017-08-09|website=Teaching Tolerance|language=en|access-date=2019-12-08}}</ref> Menchú believes that the roots of Indigenous oppression in Guatemala stem from issues of exploitation and colonial land ownership, and in<ref name=":29" /> her early activism focused on defending her people from colonial exploitation.<ref name=":29" />

After leaving school, Menchú worked as an activist campaigning against [[human rights]] violations committed by the Guatemalan Army during the country's [[Guatemalan Civil War|civil war]], which lasted from 1960 to 1996.<ref name=":26" /> Many of the human rights violations that occurred during the war targeted Indigenous peoples.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ezpa.library.ualberta.ca/ezpAuthen.cgi?url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/mayan-indians|title=Mayan Indians|publisher=ABC Australia|date=2014|website=ezpa.library.ualberta.ca|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref> Women were targets of physical and sexual violence at the hands of the military.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ezpa.library.ualberta.ca/ezpAuthen.cgi?url=https://brill.com/view/title/23764|title=Come Hell or High Water: Feminism and the Legacy of Armed Conflict in Central America|last=Destrooper|first=Tine|date=2014|website=ezpa.library.ualberta.ca|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref>

In 1981, Menchú was exiled and escaped to Mexico where she found refuge in the home of a Catholic bishop in Chiapas.'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rgshoey.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/rigoberta-menchu-tum-january-9-1959/|title=Rigoberta Menchú Tum January 9, 1959|date=2017-06-07|website=Rachel Shoey|language=en|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>'''  Menchú continued to organize resistance to oppression in Guatemala and organize the struggle for Indigenous rights by co-founding the United Republic of Guatemalan Opposition.<ref name=":20">{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/3b72550b2a.html|title=Menchú Tum, Rigoberta|website=UNHCR|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604184728/http://www.unhcr.org/3b72550b2a.html|archive-date=4 June 2016|access-date=14 May 2016}}</ref> Tens of thousands of people, mostly indigenous Maya people, fled to Mexico from 1982 to 1984 at the height of Guatemala's 36-year civil war.<ref name=":20" />

A year later, in 1982, she narrated a book about her life, titled ''Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia'' (''My Name is Rigoberta Menchú, and this is how my Awareness was Born''), to Venezuelan author and anthropologist [[Elizabeth Burgos]]. The book was translated into five other languages including English and French.<ref name="nobel" /> Menchú's work made her an international icon at the time of the ongoing conflict in Guatemala and brought attention to the suffering of Indigenous peoples under an oppressive government regime.<ref name="nobel" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hartviksen|first=Julia|title=Book Review: Towards a Feminist Subaltern Understanding of I, Rigoberta Menchu |website=Academia |url=https://www.academia.edu/6160645|language=en}}</ref>

Menchú served as the Presidential Goodwill Ambassador for the 1996 Peace Accords in Guatemala.<ref name="all">[https://www.thefreelibrary.com/GUATEMALA%3A+RIGOBERTA+MENCHU+STEPS+BEYOND+TRADITION+TO+MOVE+INDIGENOUS...-a0113428762 GUATEMALA: RIGOBERTA MENCHU STEPS BEYOND TRADITION TO MOVE INDIGENOUS AGENDA], thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 27 November 2017.</ref> That same year she received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in Boston.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peaceabbey.org/2015/05/recipients-of-the-courage-of-conscience-award|title=Recipients of the Courage of Conscience Award|website=peaceabbey.org|date=2 May 2015 |access-date=27 November 2017}}</ref>

{{Feminism sidebar}}

After the [[Guatemalan Civil War]] ended, Menchú campaigned to have Guatemalan political and military establishment members tried in Spanish courts.<ref name=":21" /> In 1999, she filed a complaint before a court in Spain because prosecutions of civil-war era crimes in Guatemala was practically impossible.<ref name=":21" /> These attempts stalled as the Spanish courts determined that the plaintiffs had not yet exhausted all possibilities of seeking justice through the legal system of Guatemala.<ref name=":21">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-03-mn-40132-story.html|title=Activist Asks Spain to Pursue Guatemala Case|agency=Reuters|date=1999-12-03|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-10-04|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> On 23 December 2006, Spain called for the [[extradition]] from Guatemala of seven former members of Guatemala's government, including [[Efraín Ríos Montt]] and [[Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores|Óscar Mejía]], on charges of [[genocide]] and [[torture]].<ref name=":22">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6205327.stm|title=Spain seeks Guatemalan ex-rulers|date=23 December 2006|access-date=27 November 2017|work=BBC News}}</ref> Spain's highest court ruled that cases of genocide committed abroad could be judged in Spain, even if no Spanish citizens were involved.<ref name=":22" /> In addition to the deaths of Spanish citizens, the most serious charges include genocide against the [[Maya people]] of Guatemala.<ref name=":22" />

===Politics===
[[File:Rigoberta Menchu 2009.jpg|thumb|Menchú commemorating the Treaty on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2009]]

In 2005, Menchú joined the Guatemalan federal government as [[goodwill ambassador]] for the [[Guatemalan Peace Process 1994-1996#Accord for a Firm and Lasting Peace 1996|National Peace Accords]].<ref name=mayanambassador>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebjEVjJ-DcAC&dq=Rigoberta+Mench%C3%BA+appointed+special+ambassador+2005&pg=PA152|title=Countries at the Crossroads: A Survey of Democratic Governance|first1=Christopher|last1=Walker|first2=Sanja|last2=Tactic|publisher=Freedom House|date=2006|isbn=978-0-7425-5801-4|access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref> Menchú faced opposition and discrimination. In April 2005, five Guatemalan politicians would be convicted for hurling racial epithets at Menchú. Court rulings would also uphold the right to wear indigenous dresses and practice Mayan spirituality.<ref name=mayanambassador />

On 12 February 2007, Menchú announced that she would form an Indigenous political party called [[Encuentro por Guatemala]] and that she would stand in the [[2007 Guatemalan general election|2007 presidential election]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Zuckerman|first=Adam|date=2007|title=The Presidential Candidacy of Rigoberta Menchú: Facing Guatemala's Bitter Past|journal=The Council on Hemispheric Affairs}}</ref> She was the first Maya, Indigenous woman to ever run in a Guatemalan election.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/15/thelma-cabrera-indigenous-woman-guatemalas-election-presidential|title=Thelma Cabrera: indigenous, female and shaking up Guatemala's election|last=Lakhani|first=Nina|date=2019-06-15|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-11-21|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.coha.org/guatemalas-impossible-candidate/|title=Guatemala's impossible candidate|date=8 September 2007 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> In the 2007 election, Menchú was defeated in the first round, receiving three percent of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/984734|title=Nobel winner seeks presidency|date=10 February 2007|publisher=Tvnz.co.nz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208143456/http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/984734|archive-date=8 February 2009|access-date=22 April 2009}}</ref>

In 2009, Menchú became involved in the newly founded party [[Winaq]].<ref name=":2" /> Menchú was a candidate for the [[2011 Guatemalan general election|2011 presidential election]], but lost in the first round, winning three percent of the vote again.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/columency/menchu_rigoberta/0?institutionId=702|title=Menchú, Rigoberta {{!}} The Columbia Encyclopedia – Credo Reference|website=search.credoreference.com|access-date=2018-10-02}}</ref> Although Menchú was not elected, [[Winaq]] succeeded in becoming the first Indigenous political party of Guatemala.<ref name="nobelwomensinitiative.org"/>

== International activism ==
[[File:Rigoberta Menchu.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Menchú in 1998]]
At the peak of state counterinsurgency, the [[Permanent Peoples' Tribunal|Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal]]: Session on Guatemala (PPT-SG), held in Madrid in 1983, was the first of its kind for Central America.<ref name="Indigenous Women and Violence">{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1ghv4mj |title=Indigenous Women and Violence |date=2021|publisher=University of Arizona Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1ghv4mj |isbn=978-0-8165-4296-3 |editor-last=Stephen |editor-first=Lynn |editor-last2=Speed |editor-first2=Shannon }}</ref> The tribunal looked at evidence going back to the CIA-backed coup that ousted democratically elected president [[Jacobo Árbenz]] in 1954; although its focus was on the massacres, [[scorched earth]] policies, forced disappearances, torture, and killings taking place at the time under General [[Efraín Ríos Montt]].<ref name="Indigenous Women and Violence"/> Menchú was included in the five-day tribunal, that included twenty-two testifiers, and shared how her mother was used as bait as an effort to trap her children:

{{Blockquote|text=According to the testimony of a cousin, who [also] tortured my mother and even looked after her 	corpse for four months on the mountainside, my mother was tortured for about twelve days. They changed her Maya dress for a military uniform, they cut her hair, and for twelve days she was cruelly tortured . . . [doctors were brought to resuscitate her], and they began again with the same tortures, they started raping her again. . . . Little by little my mother lost her will to live. When she was again about to die, they took her to a ravine about fifteen minutes away from 	Uspantán, they dumped her, still alive, among the vegetation. The military guarded her 		permanently for four months. My mother died slowly, she was eaten by animals, by buzzards, until only the largest bones of her body remained. The military let no one draw near. (TPP 1984, 43)|author=Rigoberta Menchú|title=Five-day tribunal|source=Speed, Shannon, and Lynn Stephen, eds. Indigenous Women and Violence : Feminist Activist Research in Heightened States of Injustice / Edited by Lynn Stephen and Shannon Speed. 1st ed. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2021.}}

Almost thirty years later, the First Tribunal of Consciousness Against Sexual Violence Toward Women took place in Guatemala City in 2010.<ref name="Indigenous Women and Violence"/>  The 1983 PPT-SG did not acknowledge the rape of women, particularly Maya women, during the armed conflict testifiers spoke; but it would take another twenty-seven years for sexual violence to be fully recognized in an ethical tribunal, and thirty-three years for it to be legally condemned in 2016 in the [[Sepur Zarco case]].<ref name="Indigenous Women and Violence"/> The trial and conviction of Jose Efrain Rios Montt in Guatemala in 2013 demonstrates that 15 years later, it is possible to convict a former head of state of [[crimes against humanity]].<ref name=":31">{{Cite journal |last=Ginger |first=Williams |date=2014 |title=Militarism and Its Discontents: Neoliberalism, Repression, and Resistance in Twenty-First-Century US-Latin American Relations |journal=Social Justice |volume=3 |pages=1–28 }}</ref> Guatemala became the first Latin America country to place a former president on trial for genocide, being charged for the killing and disappearance of 70,000 people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands.<ref name=":31" />

In 1996, Menchú was appointed as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in recognition of her activism for the rights of Indigenous people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/goodwill-ambassadors/rigoberta-menchu-tum/|title=Rigoberta Menchu Túm |website=UNESCO|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref> In this capacity, she acted as a spokesperson for the first [[International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples]] (1995–2004), where she worked to improve international collaboration on issues such as environment, education, health care, and human rights for Indigenous peoples.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.feminist.com/resources/womenpeace/rigoberta_tum.html|title=Resources ::: Women, Power & Peace|website=www.feminist.com|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/Pages/InternationalDecade.aspx|title=OHCHR {{!}} International Decades of the World´s Indigenous People|website=www.ohchr.org|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref> In 2015, Menchú met with the general director of UNESCO, [[Irina Bokova]], in order to solidify relations between Guatemala and the organization.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|date=2015|title=Directora Unesco llega a Guatemala en visita oficial para reforzar relaciones|journal=EFE News Service}}</ref>

Since 2003, Menchú has become involved in the Indigenous [[pharmaceutical]] industry as president of "[[Salud para Todos]]" ("Health for All") and the company "Farmacias Similares," with the goal of offering low-cost [[generic medicine]]s.<ref name="all" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|date=2003|title=Guatemalan Peace Prize Winner Opens Discount Drug Stores|journal=Houston Chronicle}}</ref> As president of this organization, Menchú has received pushback from large pharmaceutical companies due to her desire to shorten the patent life of certain AIDS and cancer drugs to increase their availability and affordability.<ref name=":4" />

In 2006, Menchú was one of the founders of the [[Nobel Women's Initiative]] along with sister Nobel Peace Laureates [[Jody Williams]], [[Shirin Ebadi]], [[Wangari Maathai]], [[Betty Williams (Nobel laureate)|Betty Williams]] and [[Mairead Corrigan Maguire]].<ref name=":23" /> These six women, representing North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, decided to bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace, justice and equality.<ref name=":23" /> It is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen [[women's rights]] around the world.<ref name=":23">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/index.php/content/view/7/3/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516213721/http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/index.php/content/view/7/3|title=Nobel Women's Initiative|archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref>

Menchú is a member of [[PeaceJam]], an organization whose mission is to use Nobel Peace Laureates as mentors and models for young people and provide a way for these Laureates to share their knowledge, passions, and experience.<ref name=":24">[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150420006366/en/Nobel-Peace-Prize-Winner-Rigoberta%C2%A0Mench%C3%BA%C2%A0and-Google-Volunteers#.VfoZ2flVhBc Profile], BusinessWire.com, 20 April 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2017.</ref><ref>PeaceJam Mission Statement</ref> She travels around the world speaking to youth through PeaceJam conferences.<ref name=":24" /> She has also been a member of the [[Jacques Chirac Foundation for Sustainable Development and Cultural Dialogue|Foundation Chirac]]'s honor committee since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president [[Jacques Chirac]] in order to promote world peace.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fondationchirac.eu/en/foundation/honour-committee|title=Honor Committee|work=Fondation Chirac|access-date=27 November 2017}}</ref>

Menchú has continued her activism by continuing to raise awareness for issues including political and economic inequality and climate change.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|date=2018|title=Rigoberta Menchú habla en ONU sobre obstáculos para la cultura de paz|journal=Prensa Latina}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

===Awards and honors===
[[File:Medal Nobel Peace Prize.jpg|thumbnail|The Nobel Peace Prize Medal awarded to Menchú is safeguarded in the [[Templo Mayor#Museum|Museo del Templo Mayor]] in Mexico City.]]
* 1992 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for her advocacy and social justice work for the indigenous peoples of Latin America<ref name=":18">[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1992 "The Nobel Peace Prize 1992"], Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 27 November 2017.</ref>
* 1992 UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador position for her advocacy for the indigenous peoples of Guatemala<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=2012|title=Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchu to give UNESCO Human Rights Lecture|journal=US Fed News Service}}</ref>
** Menchú was the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize at the time, and the first indigenous people recipient.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1992/press-release/|title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1992|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref>
* 1996 Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for her authorship and advocacy for the indigenous peoples of Guatemala<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.peaceabbey.org/2015/05/recipients-of-the-courage-of-conscience-award/|title=Recipients of the Courage of Conscience Award {{!}} The Peace Abbey FoundationThe Peace Abbey Foundation|date=2 May 2015 |access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref>
* 1998 [[Prince of Asturias Prize]] for improving the condition of women and the communities they serve. (Jointly with 6 other women.)<ref>[http://www.fpa.es/es/tratarAplicacionPremiado.do "Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Cooperación Internacional 1998"], Fundación Princesa de Asturias website]. Retrieved 27 November 2017.</ref>
* 1999 asteroid [[9481 Menchú]] was named in her honor ({{small|[[Minor Planet Circulars|M.P.C.]] 34354}})<ref name="MPC-Asteroid" />
* 2010 [[Order of the Aztec Eagle]] for services provided for Mexico<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mexiconewsnetwork.com/en/art-and-culture/order-aztec-eagle/|title=What is the Order of the Aztec Eagle?!|date=2015-07-06|website=México News Network|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref>
* 2018 Spendlove Prize for her advocacy for minority groups<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=2018|title=Guatemalan Nobelist Announced as this Year's Spendlove Prize Recipient|journal=Targeted News Service}}</ref>
* In 2022, the [[Bordeaux Montaigne University|University of Bordeaux Montaigne]], located in [[Pessac]], gave her name to its newly built library in her honor.

=== Publications ===
* ''I, Rigoberta Menchú'' (1983)''<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|last=Menchú|first=Rigoberta|date=2013|title=I, Rigoberta Menchú an Indian Woman in Guatemala|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galelp/i_rigoberta_menchu_an_indian_woman_in_guatemala/0|journal=The Literature of Propaganda|via=Credoreference}}</ref>''
** This book, also titled ''My Name is Rigoberta Menchú and that's how my Conscience was Born,'' was dictated by Menchú and transcribed by Elizabeth Burgos<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la consciencia|author=Burgos, Elizabeth|date=2005|publisher=Siglo veintiuno editores|isbn=968-23-1315-5|oclc=775861208|url=https://archive.org/details/mellamorigoberta00menc}}</ref>
* ''Crossing Borders'' (1998)<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|title=Crossing borders|author=Menchú, Rigoberta|date=1998|publisher=Verso|others=Wright, Ann|isbn=1-85984-893-1|location=London|oclc=39458909|url=https://archive.org/details/crossingborders00menc}}</ref>
* ''Daughter of the Maya'' (1999)<ref name=":14">{{Cite book|title=Enkelin der Maya: Autobiografie|author=Menchú, Rigoberta|date=1999|publisher=Lamuv|isbn=3-88977-555-1|oclc=175122620}}</ref>
* ''The Girl from Chimel'' (2005) with Dante Liano, illustrated by Domi ''<ref name=":15">{{Cite book|title=The girl from Chimel|author=Menchú, Rigoberta|date=2005|publisher=Groundwood Books|isbn=0-88899-666-7|oclc=57697284|url=https://archive.org/details/girlfromchimel00menc}}</ref>''
* ''The Honey Jar'' (2006) with Dante Liano, illustrated by Domi<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|title=The honey jar|author=Menchú, Rigoberta|date=2006|publisher=Groundwood Books|others=Liano, Dante., Unger, David., Domi.|isbn=978-0-88899-670-1|location=Toronto|oclc=61427375|url=https://archive.org/details/honeyjar00menc}}</ref>
* ''The Secret Legacy'' (2008) with Dante Liano, illustrated by Domi <ref>{{cite book |last1=Menchú |first1=Rigoberta |title=The Secret Legacy |date=2008 |publisher=Groundwood Books |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0-88899-896-5 |oclc=209585664 |url=https://archive.org/details/secretlegacy0000menc |access-date=13 December 2019}}</ref>
* ''K'aslemalil-Vivir. El caminar de Rigoberta Menchú Tum en el Tiempo'' (2012)<ref name=":17">{{Cite book|title=K'aslemalil, vivir: el caminar de Rigoberta Menchú Tum en el tiempo|author=Menchú, Rigoberta|year=2015|publisher=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |isbn=978-607-02-7170-0|oclc=955326314}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|date=2015|title=Guatemalteca Rigoberta Menchú celebra 56 años con libro autobiográfico|journal=Notimex}}</ref>

==Testimony controversy==
More than a decade after the publication of ''I, Rigoberta Menchú'', anthropologist [[David Stoll (anthropologist)|David Stoll]] investigated Menchú's story and claimed that Menchú changed some elements about her life, family, and village to meet the publicity needs of the guerrilla movement.<ref name=":27">{{Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stoll-menchu.html|title=Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans|website=archive.nytimes.com|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> Stoll acknowledged the violence against the Maya civilians in his book, ''Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of all Poor Guatemalans,'' but believed the guerillas were responsible for the army's atrocities.<ref name="Sanford 38–46">{{Cite journal |last=Sanford |first=Victoria |date=November 1999 |title=Between Rigoberta Menchú and La Violencia: Deconstructing David Stoll's History of Guatemala |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0094582X9902600604 |journal=Latin American Perspectives |language=en |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=38–46 |doi=10.1177/0094582X9902600604 |issn=0094-582X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The controversy caused by Stoll's book received widespread coverage in the US press of the time; thus the ''[[New York Times]]'' highlighted a few claims in her book contradicted by other sources:

{{Blockquote|text=A younger brother whom Ms. Menchu says she saw die of starvation never existed, while a second, whose suffering she says she and her parents were forced to watch as he was being burned alive by army troops, was killed in entirely different circumstances when the family was not present. Contrary to Ms. Menchu's assertion in the first page of her book that ''I never went to school'' and could not speak Spanish or read or write until shortly before she dictated the text of ''I, Rigoberta Menchu,'' she in fact received the equivalent of a middle-school education as a scholarship student at two prestigious private boarding schools operated by Roman Catholic nuns.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rohter|first=Larry|title=Tarnished Laureate: A special report; Nobel Winner Finds Her Story Challenged|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=15 December 1998|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/15/world/tarnished-laureate-a-special-report-nobel-winner-finds-her-story-challenged.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211171327/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/15/world/tarnished-laureate-a-special-report-nobel-winner-finds-her-story-challenged.html|archive-date=11 February 2010}}</ref><ref>[[New York Times]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100912151842/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/21/world/guatemala-laureate-defends-my-truth.html Guatemala Laureate Defends 'My Truth' 21 January 1999]</ref>}}

Many authors have defended Menchú, and attributed the controversy to different interpretations of the testimonio genre.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Beverley|first=John|date=1989|title=The Margin at the Center: on 'Testimonio' (Testimonial Narrative)|journal=Modern Fiction Studies|volume=35|pages=11–28|doi=10.1353/mfs.0.0923|s2cid=162050347}}</ref><ref>Sanford, Victoria PhD. "The Silencing of Maya Women From Mama Maquin to Rigoberta Menchu", pp. 135–143 [142],  for critique on Stoll's informant, Alfonso Riviera.</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last=Feffer|first=John|date=2010|title=Not-So-Magical Realism|journal=Foreign Policy in Focus}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=David|date=2001|title=The limits of community: How "we" read me llamo rigoberta menchu|journal=Discourse|volume=23|pages=154–169|doi=10.1353/dis.2001.0007 |s2cid=143761801 }}</ref> Menchú herself states,  "I'd like to stress that it's not only ''my'' life, it's also the testimony of my people."<ref name=":29" /> An error in ''Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of all Poor Guatemalans'' is Stoll's representation of the massacre at the Spanish embassy in Guatemala in 1980 as a self-immolation coordinated by student and indigenous leaders of the peasant protesters occupying the embassy; investigators in 1981 reported on the massacre and the [[Comision para el Esclarecimiento Historico|La Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico]] (Commission for the Historical Clarification-CEH) and published findings concluding that the army carried out a premeditated firebombing of the embassy.<ref name="Sanford 38–46"/>

Later, a declassified CIA document form late February 1982 states that in mid-February 1982 the Guatemalan army reinforced its existing forces and launched a "sweep operation in the [[Ixil Triangle]]; and commanding officers of the units involved had been instructed to destroy all towns and villages which were cooperating in the [[Guerrilla Army of the Poor|Guerilla Army of the Poor]] (EGP) and eliminate all sources of resistance."<ref name="Sanford 38–46"/> Which was a fallacy recently repeated in the Times Literary Supplement by Ilan Stavans in his review of Stoll's book. Some scholars have stated that, despite its factual and historical inaccuracies, Menchú's testimony remains relevant for the ways in which it depicts the life of an Indigenous Guatemalan during the civil war.<ref name=":8" />

The Nobel Committee dismissed calls to revoke Menchú's Nobel Prize, in spite of Stoll's allegations regarding Menchú. [[Geir Lundestad]], the secretary of the committee, stated that Menchú's prize was awarded because of her advocacy and social justice work, not because of her testimony, and that she had committed no observable wrongdoing.

According to Mark Horowitz, William Yaworsky, and Kenneth Kickham, the controversy about Stoll's account of Menchu is one of the three most divisive episodes in recent American anthropological history, along with controversies about the truthfulness of [[Margaret Mead]]'s ''[[Coming of Age in Samoa]]'' and [[Napoleon Chagnon]]'s representation of violence among the [[Yanomami]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/705409|doi = 10.1086/705409|title = Anthropology's Science Wars|year = 2019|last1 = Horowitz|first1 = Mark|last2 = Yaworsky|first2 = William|last3 = Kickham|first3 = Kenneth|journal = Current Anthropology|volume = 60|issue = 5|pages = 674–698|s2cid = 203051445|url-access = subscription}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Guatemala|Biography}}
* [[List of civil rights leaders]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[List of female Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of feminists]]

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="MPC-Asteroid">{{cite web
  |title      = 9481 Menchu (2559 P-L)
  |work       = Minor Planet Center
  |url        = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=9481
  |access-date = 16 January 2019}}</ref>
</references> <!-- end of reflist -->

==Bibliography==
* Ament, Gail. "Recent Maya Incursions into Guatemalan Literary Historiography". ''Literary Cultures of Latin America: A Comparative History''. Eds. Mario J. Valdés & Djelal Kadir. 3 Vols. Vol 1: ''Configurations of Literary Culture''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: I: 216–215.
* Arias, Arturo. "After the Rigoberta Menchú Controversy: Lessons Learned About the Nature of Subalternity and the Specifics of the Indigenous Subject" ''[[Modern Language Notes|MLN]]'' 117.2 (2002): 481–505.
* Beverley, John. "The Real Thing (Our Rigoberta)" ''[[Modern Language Quarterly]]'' 57:2 (June 1996): 129–235.
* Brittin, Alice A. "Close Encounters of the Third World Kind: Rigoberta Menchu and Elisabeth Burgos's Me llamo Rigoberta Menchu". ''Latin American Perspectives'', Vol. 22, No. 4, Redefining Democracy: Cuba and Chiapas (Autumn, 1995), pp.&nbsp;100–114.
* De Valdés, María Elena. "The Discourse of the Other: Testimonio and the Fiction of the Maya." ''Bulletin of Hispanic Studies'' (Liverpool), LXXIII (1996): 79–90.
* Feal, Rosemary Geisdorfer. "Women Writers into the Mainstream: Contemporary Latin American Narrative". ''Philosophy and Literature in Latin America''. Eds. Jorge J.E. Gracia and Mireya Camurati. New York: State University of New York, 1989. An overview of women in contemporary Latin American letters.
* [[Tim Golden (journalist)|Golden, Tim]]. [https://www.nytimes.com%2F1992%2F10%2F17%2Fworld%2Fguatemala-indian-wins-the-nobel-peace-prize.html "Guatemalan Indian Wins the Nobel Peace Prize"]: ''New York Times'' (17 October 1992): p. A1, A5.
* Golden, Tim. "Guatemalan to Fight on With Nobel as Trumpet": ''New York Times'' (19 October 1992): p. A5.
* Gossen, Gary H. "Rigoberta Menchu and Her Epic Narrative". ''Latin American Perspectives'', Vol. 26, No. 6, If Truth Be Told: A Forum on David Stoll's "Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans" (Nov., 1999), pp.&nbsp;64–69.
* Gray Díaz, Nancy. "Indian Women Writers of Spanish America". ''Spanish American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Source Book''. Ed. Diane E. Marting. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988
* Millay, Amy Nauss. ''Voices from the Fuente Viva: The Effect of Orality in Twentieth-Century Spanish American Narrative''. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2005.
* Logan, Kathleen. "Personal Testimony: Latin American Women Telling Their Lives". ''Latin American Research Review'' 32.1 (1997): 199–211. Review Essay.
* Nelan, Bruce W. "Striking Against Racism". ''Time'' 140:61 (26 October 1992): p.&nbsp;61.
* Stanford, Victoria. "Between Rigoberta Menchu and La Violencia: Deconstructing David Stoll's History of Guatemala" ''Latin American Perspectives'' 26.6, If Truth Be Told: A Forum on David Stoll's "Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans" (Nov., 1999), pp.&nbsp;38–46.
* ---. "From I, Rigoberta to the Commissioning of Truth Maya Women and the Reshaping of Guatemalan History". ''Cultural Critique'' 47 (2001) 16–53.
* Sommer, Doris. "Rigoberta's Secrets" Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 18, No. 3, ''Voices of the Voiceless in Testimonial Literature'', Part I. (Summer, 1991), pp.&nbsp;32–50.
* Stoll, David "Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans" (Westview Press, 1999)
* ---. "Slaps and Embraces: A Rhetoric of Particularism". ''The Latin American Subaltern Studies Reader''. Ed. Iliana Rodríguez. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001.
* Wise, R. Todd. "Native American Testimonio: The Shared Vision of Black Elk and Rigoberta Menchú". In ''Christianity and Literature,'' Volume 45, Issue No.1 (Autumn 1995).
* Zimmerman, Marc. "Rigoberta Menchú After the Nobel: From Militant Narrative to Postmodern Politics". ''The Latin American Subaltern Studies Reader''. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001.

==External links==
{{commons category|Rigoberta Menchú}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Nobelprize|name=Rigoberta Menchú Tum}}
* [[Salon.com]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20050313233920/http://archive.salon.com/news/1999/02/12newsa.html Rigoberta Menchú meets the press]
* [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D14F63D5E0C718DDDAB0894D1494D81&incamp=archive:search "Peace Prize Winner Admits Discrepancies"], [[Associated Press|AP]] story in ''[[New York Times]]'', 12 February 1999 (Subscription only.)
* [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4313664.stm "Spain may judge Guatemala abuses"], [[BBC News]], 5 October 2005
* [http://chronicle.com/article/Anthropologist-Challenges/5194 "Anthropologist Challenges Veracity of Multicultural Icon" – ''The Chronicle of Higher Education''.] (Subscription only.)
* {{YouTube|cEcjeWvvR4o|Rigoberta Menchu at UMass Boston.}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100503012835/http://www.hoover.org/hila/announcements/news/92202619.html Sound recording of Elizabeth Burgos-Debray interviewing Rigoberta Menchu.]
* {{C-SPAN|58016}}

{{Indigenous rights footer}}
{{Feminism}}
{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1992 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menchu, Rigoberta}}
[[Category:Guatemalan activists]]
[[Category:Guatemalan Indigenous rights activists]]
[[Category:Guatemalan women human rights activists]]
[[Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Guatemalan Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Women Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Women autobiographers]]
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People of the Guatemalan Civil War]]
[[Category:Nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:20th-century Guatemalan women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Guatemalan politicians]]
[[Category:Guatemalan Maya people]]
[[Category:Indigenous activists of North America]]
[[Category:21st-century indigenous writers of the Americas]]
[[Category:Encuentro por Guatemala politicians]]
[[Category:Winaq politicians]]
[[Category:People from Quiché Department]]
[[Category:Women in war in Central America]]
[[Category:Women in war 1945–1999]]
[[Category:20th-century Guatemalan writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Guatemalan writers]]
[[Category:K'iche' people]]
[[Category:Autobiographers]]
[[Category:21st-century Guatemalan women politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Guatemalan politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Guatemalan women writers]]
[[Category:UNESCO goodwill ambassadors]]
[[Category:Indigenous feminists of the Americas]]
[[Category:Feminism and history]]
[[Category:Guatemalan feminists]]
[[Category:Indigenous rights]]
[[Category:Guatemalan socialists]]