SOLIDARITY

The spirit
of resistance
in Guatemala

Rigoberto Menchu has survived.

In Toronto as part of a Canada tour to
promote awareness of the continuing
repression in Guatemala, she exudes
strength and determination. At the age of
29, Menchu knows the horror or genocide
but she also knows the courage of resist-
ance. Her life is a testament to the triumph
of humanity over barbarism.

A Quiche Indian, Menchu is a member of
one of the most numerous of the 22 Indian
peaples living in Guatemala. The indigen-
ous population, making up close to 70 per
cent of the total population of the country
has been the most victimized by the years of
repression. But through nearly five centur-
ies of brutal subjugation the indigenous cul-
ture has remained intact.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the
Guatemalan army destroyed nearly 500
Indian villages in a scorched earth cam-
paign to destroy all popular organizations.
The Quiche were among the hardest hit.
Over 140,000 Indians were killed or disap-
peared while tens of thousands fled into
exile. Menchu’s family did not survive the
horror.

They lived in the village of Chimel in the
beautiful, mountainous region of northern
Guatemala. Life was hard for Menchu’s
family and finding enough to eat was a daily
battle. Like all the Quiche, they were forced
into the cycle of working eight months on
the coffee and cotton plantations of the rich
landowners and four months at home in
Chimel.

Rigoberta began work at the age of eight
and by the time she was 10 she could pick 40
pounds of coffee a day. But pay is poor on
the plantations and the working conditions
worse. One of Rigoberta’s brothers died
from intoxication when pesticide was
dropped. on him from a plane while he was
working. Another brother died from mal-
nutrition when he was eight. The experien-
ces of the Menchu family were not unique.
In the face of such hardships Mayan culture
and spirituality remained intact as it had
since the day of the conquistadors.

“Our spirituality has helped us in our
daily lives and our work,” she says. “Many
of our communal values, our way of look-
ing at life, our way of selecting leadership
and of making decisions are very important.
These values have become the essence of
what our people are thinking about and a
source of strength for our people’s resist-
ance.”

Centuries of Catholicism have not des-

troyed the traditional Mayan beliefs.
Rather, Catholicism itself has become
transformed in the Mayan communities
and while the church hierarchy has worked
to abstract religion from reality they have
not succeeded. Religion has become a
source of organization and political resist-
ance for many Indians.

Rigoberta Menchu’s father spent his life

I... Rigoberta
Menchu. An Indian
Woman in Guate-
mala. is published
by Verso Books. It
| is available at pro-
gressive bookstores |
across Canada.
Rigoberta Menchu
can also be seen in
the docu-film on
Guatemala entitled
When the Moun-
tains Tremble.

10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 17, 1988

fighting the large landowners of Guatem-
ala. It was a struggle with many dangers. He
was continually threatened, thrown in jail
and cheated by the judges and government
officials. An Indian has no rights in Gua-
temala other than the right to work till
death to line the pockets of the privileged
few. Rigoberta’s father would not give up.
He went to the unions and was again
arrested by the government.

Finally, with other angry peasants, he
helped form the United Peasant Committee
(CUC). Organizing wasn’t easy. Most Indi-
ans spoke little or no Spanish, each had
their own indigenous language and com-
munication was difficult. The landowners
had their spies everywhere and the army
was ready to sweep down on anyone caught
with a pamphlet.

The CUC came out into the open with
strikes and demonstrations calling for a fair
wage. Huge protests were held that united
not only the indigenous majority but the
non-Native peasants as well. In 1978 Garcia
Lucas came to power and hit back with an
iron fist but the resistance continued. The
peasants joined with industrial workers in
united protests. The miners of Ixtahuacan
went on strike while 70,000 peasants struck
on the south coast.

The repression increased. Rapes, tortures
and killing became widespread across the
country. The military began to raid Indian
villages and massacres became common-
place. The army left the bodies of the mur-
dered to rot outside and anyone who tried
to bury them was also killed. About this
time Rigoberta became an organizer for the
CUS

“In spite of the tremendous amount of
massacres and injustice the Left continued
to organize,” Menchu says. “The indigen-
ous people experimented, and are experi-
menting, with new forms of popular
resistance. Indigenous people will continue
to fight back.”

In 1979, Rigoberta’s younger brother was
killed. While travelling between two villages
he was kidnapped by the army. The family
knew nothing of him till one day they heard
that the army was going to publicly punish
some “guerrillas” they had in custody in a
village called Chajul.

Rigoberta and her family travelled sev-
eral days to reach Chajul. The village was
surrounded by the army and every inhabit-
ant was brought out to watch. Three army
trucks drove up. Inside were the tortured
prisoners, among them Rigoberta’s broth-
ers. All their nails had been pulled and the
soles of their feet were sliced off. They were
stripped naked and beaten while an officer
read out their “crimes.”

After being beaten the prisoners were
lined up. An officer told the villagers this
was to be a lesson about what happens
when Indians let themselves be led by com-
munists. The soldiers poured petrol on each
prisoner and set them afire. Then, sensing
the enraged villagers would attack them,
weapons or not, the army withdrew. The
Indians put out the fires and in two hours
had made coffins for all the victims. They
gave them a proper burial.

Rigoberta’s father helped lead a march
on the capital of Guatemala to protest the
political repression in 1980. Men, women
and children took part in the march. The
marchers took over several radio stations to
tell the city of their plight. To get interna-
tional attention the peasants occupied the
Swiss and Spanish embassies. Rigoberta’s
father was among those who occupied the
Spanish embassy.

The plan was for the occupiers to leave

RIGOBERTA
MENCHU ...
her family
victims of
repression by
Guatemalan
military

Guatemala as political refugees so they
could publicize the struggle on an interna-
tional scale. The army burnt the Spanish
embassy down. Spain immediately broke
off diplomatic relations with Guatemala.
Along with the other protestors her father
died in the blaze.

A few months later, the army took Rigo-
berta’s mother. She was brutally raped and
tortured. The army kept her alive for days,
prolonging the torture. Despite all the pain

she did not betray the locations of the rest of.

the family. Finally, she was thrown on a hill
to die. The army would not let anyone bury
the mutilated body.

Working underground, Menchu carried
on her political work — organizing strikes,
boycotts and armed resistance.

Hunted by the military, she was forced
into exile. Since then she has worked to raise
awareness around the world of these strug-
gle of her people. Little has improved for the
Indians of Guatemala since Cerezo came
into power. Forty-five per cent of the people
are unemployed. Poverty is widespread and
military repression still takes place. The
pain and trials Menchu has gone through
have only strengthened her resolve to one
day see justice for the indigenous people of

Guatemala. While the Indians do not stand -

alone they’re the backbone of a movement
that one day, despite all forms of oppres-
sion, will achieve a true democracy in Gua-
temala.

“We have made an important step for
indigenous people in general and especially
in Latin America with our resistance.” Men-
chu says. “Without the participation of
indigenous people there is no future for
Guatemala. What will agrarian reform
mean if there is a real democratic process in
our country? What will happen to our indi-
genous languages? What will happen with
autonomy? What will the future Guatemala
look like when indigenous people finally
participate? I think it will be something that

wen a ae ee a Se

indigenous people everywhere will look

towards. — Paul Ogresko

—_,

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