00:16I am like a drop of water on a rock. After drip, drip, dripping in the same place,
00:22I begin to leave a mark. And I leave my mark in many people's hearts.
00:27Rigoberta Manchu
00:29The Nobel Peace Prize 1992 was awarded to Rigoberta Manchu tomb in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.
00:46Rigoberta Manchu was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the key share branch of the Mayan culture.
00:58In her early years, she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands, where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations.
01:12Rigoberta Manchu soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church and became prominent in the women's right movement when still only a teenager.
01:24Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerrilla organization established itself in the area.
01:34The Manchu family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner.
01:50After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union .
01:57In 1979 Rigoberta, too, joined the CUC.
02:02That year, her brother was arrested, tortured and killed by the army.
02:07The following year, her father was killed when security forces in the capital stormed the Spanish embassy, where he and some other peasants were staying.
02:17Shortly afterwards, her mother also died after having been arrested, tortured and raped.
02:24Rigoberta became increasingly active in the CUC and taught herself Spanish and Mayan languages beside her native key share.
02:34In 1980, she figured prominently in a strike that CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast.
02:44And on May 1, 1981, she was active in large demonstrations in the capital.
02:50She joined the radical 31st January Popular Front, in which her contribution chiefly consisted of educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression.
03:03In 1981, Rigoberta Manchu had to go into hiding in Guatemala and then flee to Mexico.
03:12That marked the beginning of a new phase in her life, as the organizer abroad, of resistance to oppression to Guatemala and the struggle for Indian peasant people's rights.
03:23In 1982, she took part in the founding of the Joint Opposition Body, the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition .
03:36In 1983, she told her life story to Elizabeth Burgess de Bray.
03:42The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Manchu, is a gripping human document, which attracted considerable international attention.
03:53In 1986, Rigoberta Manchu became a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC,
04:01and the following year, she performed as the narrator in a powerful film called When the Mountains Tremble,
04:08about the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people.
04:13On at least three occasions, Rigoberta Manchu has returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of the Indian peasants,
04:21but death threats have forced her to return into exile.
04:27Over the years, Rigoberta Manchu has become widely known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation,
04:36not only in Guatemala, but in the Western Hemisphere generally, and her work has earned her several international awards.
04:46on April 15 season 4th, she has been given her May 12th Kristin.
04:47Thank you, our workers will come round, so thank you very much.
04:48For your preciso and מתera wrote here to this program.
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