GUATEMALA: Rigoberta Menchú Tum brings first racial lawsuit to court

On March 10 Rigoberta Menchú Tum, the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, gave an emotional testimony in court recounting the racial harassment she experienced in Guatemala due to her indigenous heritage. The trial marks the first racial discrimination case heard in the Guatemalan court system. Menchú Tum has charged five members of the Guatemalan Republican Front with verbally attacking her on October 9, 2003, during a public hearing opposing the presidential candidacy of General Efrain Ríos Montt. Menchu Tum alleges Juan Carlos Ríos, Ana Cristina López Kestler, Elvia Domitila Morales de López, Vilma Orellana Ruano, and Enma Concepción Samayoa de Rosales racially insulted her with slurs such a “dirty Indian” and “shameless Indian.”