“What I treasure most in life is being able to dream. During my most difficult moments and complex situations I have been able to dream of a more beautiful future.” - Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Rigoberta Menchu Tum was born to a poor peasant family on January 9, 1959 in Chimel in north-western Guatemala. She was raised in the traditions of the Quiche Indians, who are a specific group of Maya Indians. Her father, Vicente Menchu, was a community leader and her mother, Juana Tum, was a mid wife and a traditional healer.

Rigoberta was the sixth of nine children. Her childhood memories are of a small homestead in the beautiful mountains of Guatemala where her family lived. The mountains were an untouched paradise that could only be reached by horseback. There were dirt paths instead of roads no cars or trucks to pollute the air. The Mayan Indians were very poor and they could not grow enough food in the mountains to survive. So most years, Rigoberta’s family had to leave their community for six months to work on cotton and coffee fincas, or plantations that lined the southern coast of Guatemala. The Maya workers were treated very poorly by the plantation owners: They worked fourteen hours a day in the hot sun and were paid only pennies a day. Rigoberta’ childhood memories of life on the plantations were haunting. One year, she watched her two-year old brother die from starvation. As a young girl Rigoberta learned of the injustices created by the gap between the rich and the poor.

As well as her economic struggles, Rigoberta had to face a much larger violent conflict in her country. During the cold war, the United States was fearful of communism so the C.I.A planned the overthrow of the democratically elected socialist government in Guatemala, which sparked over 30 years of war and violence. Over this time 200,000 Guatemalans were murdered and the military focused especially viciously on the Mayans, destroying 450 Indian villages and creating 1 million refugees.

The military began harassing Rigoberta’s village by setting houses on fire, destroying property and killing animals. They tried to scare them out of their homes and off of their land so that the military and other wealthy people could have it. Rigoberta’s father began organizing the community and put together a small resistance that was able to capture a soldier during an attack. They told the soldier their story and asked him to explain their plight to his commanders and companions, and then let him go unharmed. This story exemplifies the Maya Indians ingenuity and commitment to non-violence.

Her father’s work began to catch the attention of the military so the Rigoberta and her family were accused of being part of the guerilla movement. Her father was accused of murdering a local plantation owner and was kidnapped, tortured and jailed for 14 months. When he was released he joined a new organization called the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC), that worked to secure basic rights for the Maya people like fair wages and protection of their land. He took Rigoberta to the city to introduce her to people working on this movement and to teach her non-violent strategies for organizing people. He knew that the government was planning to kill him for the work he was doing, and he felt confident that Rigoberta, even as a young girl, had the strength, smarts and courage to continue his work.

Soon afterwards in 1979 her younger brother was kidnapped, tortured, and killed by a military death squad. During a protest against human-rights abuses by the military, her father and other members of the CUC were killed in a fire. They were protesting in the streets when the military began to shoot at them. They escaped to the Spanish Embassy for protection and the military burned the building with the protestors inside. Then her mother was kidnapped, tortured, raped, mutilated and killed just months after her father died. In total Rigoberta lost both of her parents, two brothers, a sister-in-law, and three nieces and nephews to violence in Guatemala. In the name of her brother, father, mother, and all the Mayan people, Rigoberta vowed to continue working hard and non-violently for the rights of her people.

Rigoberta redoubled her efforts in the CUC and started learning new languages, including Spanish, so that she could reach out to more people. She became more active in organizing and protesting, and played a major role in the 1980 farm worker strike for better conditions. She also participated in large demonstrations in the capital in 1981 and she helped educate Indian peasants on techniques for resisting to military oppression.

Her efforts caught the military’s eye and she was targeted for arrest. It was only by constantly moving, hiding, and through the protection of trusted friends that she eluded torture and death herself. It became impossible for her to remain in Guatemala since everywhere she went she endangered those who protected her. In 1981 she fled to Mexico.

In exile she became the world spokesperson for her people, the Guatemalan poor, and a powerful voice against the terrible oppression they suffered at the hands of the right-wing military. She participated in founding The United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG) in 1982, and then in 1983 she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray in recorded interviews. Elisabeth transcribed them and developed a book that when translated into English as “I, Rigoberta Menchu” drew large international attention to the horrors occurring in Guatemala. Following the release of the book Rigoberta joined the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC in 1986, and then she narrated a gripping documentary film named When the Mountains Tremble, which was about the pain and suffering of the Mayan people. Rigoberta tried to return to Guatemala several times, but always arrived to death threats and had to return to Mexico.

In 1992 Rigoberta Menchú Tum was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work for the rights of indigenous people. She was the first indigenous person ever to receive the award and one of only a handful of women to ever win it. She was awarded the prize on the 500th anniversary of Columbus landing in America. All of Rigoberta’s non-violent work contributed to the 1996 Peace Accords in Guatemala, which ended Guatemala’s 36 year civil war and gave many rights back to the Mayan people.

After the civil war ended, Rigoberta fought to have the Guatemalan political and military establishment tried in a court of law. As it was almost impossible to try these people in Guatemala, she filed in a Spanish court in 1999. After many years of consistently pushing and never giving up, the Spanish courts finally agreed to try the case and in December 2006 they called for the extradition of seven former members of the Guatemalan government on charges of torture and genocide against the Mayan people of Guatemala. Former military leaders Efraín Ríos Montt and Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores are amongst those charged.

Rigoberta also became actively involved in the Mexican pharmaceutical industry, trying to provide inexpensive generic drugs to all in need. She is the President of Salud para Todos ("Health for All") and the company "Farmacias Similares". In 2004 she accepted President Óscar Berger's offer to help implement the country's peace accords and took on the role of goodwill ambassador. In 2007, Rigoberta Menchú Tum ran for President of Guatemala, campaigning around the country for the rights of all Guatemalans.

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