A Biography by Núria Sans

                                                        A Biography: Rigoberta Menchú

Rigoberta Menchú, one of the most influential women in South America, was born on January 9, 1959 in a poor indegenous family of the K'iche'ethnic group in Laj Chimel, Guatemala. Menchú worked as a child in the field like her parents and received a primary-school education in several Catholic boarding. Since childhood she knew injustice, discrimination and exploitation at which Indians of Guatemala, who lived in extreme poverty, were subjected.

Her adolescence was marked by the death of her brother, her father and her mother by the army of the country. After that,she worked as an activist campaigning against human right violations committed by the Guatemalan armed forces during the country's civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996. She is algo know for her struggle for the situation od indiginuos women in Latin America. She was exiled in Mexico to escape from repression. Soon afterwards she wrote her first book about her biography, called " Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia" ( My name is Rigoberta Menchú and this is how my conscience was born)

Actually, she is 56 years old and she lives in Guatemala again. The latest biographical data I want to mention is that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for being the voice of indiegenous people. What I admire most about her is her willpower, her courage and her ability to overcome, and that has even more valuable in a place where the woman is undervalued.

                                                                                                                               Núria Sans Hermoso