Rigoberta Menchu
Rigoberta Menchu
Rigoberta Menchú Tumis a K'iche' political activist from Guatemala. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's indigenous feminists during and after the Guatemalan Civil War, and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. She is the subject of the testimonial biography I, Rigoberta Menchúand the author of the autobiographical work, Crossing Borders. Menchú is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. She has...
NationalityGuatemalan
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth9 January 1959
CityLaj Chimel, Guatemala
CountryGuatemala
Let there be freedom for the Indians, wherever they may be in the American Continent or elsewhere in the world, because while they are alive, a glow of hope will be alive as well as a true concept of life.
The priests say the new dawn will be like the rain that fertilizes the soil before we begin to plant our corn. It will renew the natural cycle of life. The Mayan people will once again flourish. I believe in this very strongly. The holy men say we are entering a period of clarity. We are rediscovering our Mayan values.
When you are convinced your cause is just, you fight for it.
It is not possible to conceive a democratic Guatemala, free and independent, without the indigenous identity shaping its character into all aspects of national existence.
I feel a deep emotion and pride for the honor of having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1992.
The indigenous peoples never had, and still do not have, the place that they should have occupied in the progress and benefits of science and technology, although they represented an important basis for this development.
... our reality teaches us that, as Christians, we must create a Church of the poor, that we don't need a Church imposed from outside which knows nothing of hunger.
We can only love a person who eats what we eat.
... together we can build the people's Church, a true Church. Not just a hierarchy, or a building, but a real change inside people.
The Bible has been used as a way of making us accept our situation, and not to bring enlightenment to the poor.
I wasn't the only orphan in Guatemala. There are many others, and it's not my grief alone, it's the grief of a whole people.
Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many books they have, can find out all our secrets.
I would get up in the morning and I would say, "How am I going to bother them today?"
There is not one world for man and one for animals, they are part of the same one and lead parallel lives.