Who am I? (November/December 2015)

By EVANGELINE COMEAU-KIRSCHNER, age 10

PHOTO: Cancillería del Ecuador/Flickr




1. I was born to coffee bean farmers on January 9, 1959, in the small town of Laj Chimel, located in the Quiché province of Guatemala.
2. I became prominent in the Guatemalan women’s rights movement while I was still a teenager.
3. My family was deeply involved in organizing for better working conditions for peasants through the Committee of the Peasant Union.
4. When I was in my twenties, my mother, father and brother were arrested, tortured and killed for their work as peasant organizers.
5. In 1981, I went into hiding in Guatemala, then fled to Mexico City after receiving death threats. I continued to organize from outside the country in support of Guatemalan peasant rights.
6. I narrated a film about the conflict between indigenous peasants and the Guatemalan military, called When the Mountains Tremble.
7. On at least three occasions, I have returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of Guatemalan peasants, but death threats have forced me to return into exile.
8. In 1992, I was awarded the Nobel Prize for my work as an advocate for indigenous peasant rights.

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ANSWER: Rigoberta Menchú