Rigoberta Menchú

Rigoberta Menchú Tum, a K'iche' Maya from Guatemala, was born on January 9, 1959. She is a human rights activist, feminist, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Her life's work has focused on raising awareness about the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples during and after the country's civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996, and on advancing Indigenous rights around the world.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, became a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1996, and received the Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. Menchú is the subject of the 1983 testimonial book *I, Rigoberta Menchú* and wrote her own autobiography, *Crossing Borders*, in 1998. She established Guatemala's first Indigenous political party, Winaq, and ran for president under its banner in the 2007 and 2011 elections.

Menchú was born into a poor Indigenous family of K'iche' Maya descent in Laj Chimel, a rural area in the department of El Quiché. Her family, like many others, struggled to survive on the small plots of land left after the Spanish conquest. Her mother became a midwife at sixteen, using traditional medicinal plants, and worked until she was murdered at age 43. Her father was a prominent activist for Indigenous farmers' rights. Both parents attended Catholic church, but her mother also kept her Maya spirituality. Menchú absorbed Catholic teachings from her father and her mother's Maya influence, which taught her to live in harmony with nature and preserve her culture. She sees herself as a blend of both parents.

In 1979 and 1980, her brother Patrocinio and mother Juana Tum Kótoja were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the Guatemalan Army. Her father, Vicente Menchú Perez, died in the 1980 Burning of the Spanish Embassy, an incident that began when urban guerrillas took hostages and government forces attacked. In 2015, former police commander Pedro García Arredondo was convicted of attempted murder and crimes against humanity for his role in that attack; he had also been convicted in 2012 for ordering the enforced disappearance of a student during the civil war. In 1984, her other brother, Victor, was shot dead after surrendering to the army, being threatened, and trying to flee.

Menchú married Ángel Canil, a Guatemalan, in a Mayan ceremony in 1995. They had a Catholic wedding in January 1998, at which time they also buried their son Tz'unun, who had died shortly after a premature birth in December. They later adopted a son named Mash Nahual Ja'. She appeared in the 1983 documentary *When the Mountains Tremble*. She lives with her family in San Pedro Jocopilas, Quiché Department, in the heart of K'iche' territory. In 2025, she became a Mexican citizen.

The Guatemalan Civil War, lasting from 1962 to 1996, was rooted in social, economic, and political inequality. It followed the CIA-backed removal of President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, the Cuban revolution of 1959, and Che Guevara's call for more conflicts like Vietnam. The U.S. often supported authoritarian rule in the name of national security. An estimated 250,000 people were killed, including 50,000 disappeared, and hundreds of thousands were displaced, mostly by the armed forces or the Civil Defense Patrols. Arming civilians, especially Indigenous people, was unusual and illegal under the constitution. Massacres of Indigenous people began in May 1978 and peaked in 1982. By 1981, the CIA reported indiscriminate killings of civilians in rural areas, with soldiers ordered to fire at anything moving. In 1982, the CIA noted villages burned to the ground and commanders told to give no quarter to combatants or non-combatants. These inequalities hit marginalized groups hardest, especially Indigenous communities. The state used forceful, human rights–violating measures, leading to genocide, disappearances, and displacement. 83% of victims were later identified as Mayan, showing that most violations targeted Indigenous people. These events deeply affected Menchú and her family, driving her activism.

From a young age, Menchú worked alongside her father for the Committee for Peasant Unity, advocating for Indigenous farmers' rights. She faced discrimination for wanting to join male family members in the struggle, but her mother inspired her to keep making space for herself. She believes Indigenous oppression in Guatemala stems from exploitation and colonial land ownership, and her early activism focused on defending her people from that exploitation. After leaving school, she campaigned against human rights abuses.