Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Rigoberta Menchú Tum received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples in her native Guatemala. She established a foundation to promote the rights of indigenous people around the world

Ms Menchú Tum Was raised in a poor Indian family in the highlands of Guatemala when the repressive military dictatorship of Guatemala began a large-scale repression of Indian peoples. Before she was 21, Rigoberta’s mother, father and brother had been brutally tortured and murdered by the Guatemalan army. Rigoberta confronted the oppression faced by her family and her peoples by actively protesting labor and human rights abuses. In 1981 she was forced to leave her country and seek exile in Mexico. In exile she became an eloquent defender of the rights and values of indigenous peoples and other victims of government oppression. On several occasions, Rigoberta returned to her home country to plead the cause of the Indian peasants, but death threats forced her to return into exile. In 1983, Rigoberta’s testimonial book helped the plight of the indigenous people in Guatemala become global news. After winning the Peace Prize, Rigoberta established the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation which promotes the rights of indigenous people around the world.

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