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Rigoberta Menchú: "Sectors from the past have taken power in Guatemala"

2022-09-20T21:44:45.204Z


The Nobel Peace Prize winner talks about the challenges for development and the situation in her country and in Central America where she sees "dictatorial attitudes"


Rigoberta Menchú Tum, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, speaks to journalists during a conference in Carcavelos, Portugal, in 2019. Horacio Villalobos (Corbis via Getty Images)

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Thirty years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize and when the world is suffering the effects of a new war in Europe and the climate crisis, Mayan human rights defender Rigoberta Menchú (Aldea Chimel, 63 years old) is not happy with the world that your generation is leaving to young people;

a world that, in her opinion, is dehumanized and in which violence and intolerance have been “globalized” and private interests have been prioritized over the common good.

“The homogeneous economic policy leaves us with a lot of damage in the mind, but it also maintains inequalities.

I cannot speak of comprehensive development when I see malnourished mothers.

We see poverty, we see famine and we are currently seeing massive drought because the sacred water is running out due to depredation," Menchú said in an interview with EL PAÍS in New York, before participating in the event "Many Voices, One Region: Latin America and the Caribbean working on the 2030 agenda for sustainable development', organized by CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and in which it was the main protagonist.

Even the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, who participated in another of her panels, showed her admiration for her and asked for her applause for her.

“We are going to pay for the massive destruction.

We are going to pay these generations, but future generations too, ”warns the Nobel Prize winner.

To counteract this situation, she urges to seek solutions through dialogue and balance that involve all sectors of society and asks not to forget ancestral practices.

"Many are against the indigenous peoples, but thanks to the indigenous peoples there are cloud forests, there are rivers," she says.

“They are sacred sites because they produce oxygen.

Wherever we go, we are going to find an indigenous territory that is much more balanced than any overwhelmed city on the planet.”

Menchú spoke with EL PAÍS about the situation in his region, Central America, where he says he sees "dictatorial attitudes", but prefers to avoid specific convictions, and in his country, Guatemala, where he denounces the return of "sectors from the past" who have taken over the institutions.

However, the activist maintains her hopes in the "reaction of the people" and her mobilization for next year's elections.

Ask.

The situation is not very hopeful in Guatemala: we have seen attacks on the press and independent justice operators...

Response.

It is no secret to anyone that there really is a lot of corruption.

There is an agglutination of what is known in Guatemala as the association of the corrupt that affects the State as a whole, that affects the justice system.

We have seen the former Human Rights Prosecutor go outside.

The most distinguished prosecutors are either in jail or out of the country.

Judges, judges, women who have made a very big contribution against impunity: all of them have had to leave the country or are afraid of being attacked.

This system tends to use the features of the dictatorship that existed in the past, especially the counterinsurgency plan that eliminated any opponent.

That means that some sectors of the past have taken power again and we cannot do anything against them if they have the judicial system in their favor,

if they have the Congress in their favor and if they have the Executive in their favor.

It is devastating for many defenders and especially here we know, for example, the situation of Chepe Zamora, the most emblematic journalist in Guatemala, who has criticized corruption, has investigated corporate mafias.

That is dangerous for our country.

More information

Guatemala sinks into the abyss of impunity

We have uncertainty for the next elections.

There are 27 parties that will participate.

The election is close, but we still don't know who of these 27 will legally remain and who will be eliminated by the court itself.

And let's not say which candidate could be ideal if what is being promoted is even the daughter of one of Guatemala's best-known dictators such as Ríos Montt.

And we understand that the officialdom of the State is in that direction.

So, they need to eliminate opponents.

This is the most serious thing in Guatemala that we see now.

Where is the hope?

It is in the people themselves.

I think that the population is able to vote and that they have to vote for what they consider best for their country.

P.

Are there conditions for clean elections to be held, despite all this you are saying, and what in Guatemala they call the "corrupt pact"?

R.

Yes. I believe that the corrupt pact is clear, it is evident, it is investigated and everyone recognizes it.

The issue is how the people react and I don't know how the people are going to react because the leaders are fearful, although it is a moment of alliance.

I hope that, in these few months, alliances will be forged that can lead the country better.

Finally, I believe that there is no other way than the elections.

We have no other way than to protect ourselves from the popular election system and the institutions that make it possible for this popular election to take place, such as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and from within our own parties.

I say our own parties because people also participate in political parties and that within those parties the good participation of women, the good participation of young people is fought for and that space is given to diverse leaders and not just the same ones.

We have a bad practice in Guatemala, that the leaders are the same and the same.

I think it is very important to broaden the horizon of participation from the assemblies of the political parties, at the municipal, departmental, district, and national levels.

In other words, we have the instrument of a political party to achieve a good turnout, other than money that measures the popular election.

Q.

You talk a lot about the participation of women and young people.

We have seen in Chile and Colombia the emergence of more diverse governments.

Do you think something similar is possible in Guatemala?

R.

The truth is that the Guatemalan environment is very closed.

We Mayan women have very good options for municipal participation, participation in Congress.

We have many women trained to direct the different spaces of public administration.

Another thing is that they really win through the citizen vote, and I hope so, because we are making the effort from the Women's Indigenous platform, which is working hard to support and encourage women who are going to the popular election.

And we have many candidates, but it depends on the people's vote.

I think it's not just because of machismo, but because of fear, because violence against women has been very present.

I feel that for women it is still quite a difficult path.

However it is a process.

I really see the much more hopeful participation of Mayan women than a few years ago.

The same in Latin America and everywhere there is a massive presence of new generations.

That makes me very happy.

P.

In Central America we have seen the authoritarian excesses of Bukele, who is going to stand for re-election despite the fact that the Constitution prohibits it.

We also saw how in Nicaragua in 2018 this brutal repression against opponents began.

Are you worried about the situation in the region?

R.

Of course we are concerned because there is a historical struggle that has been carried out by the indigenous peoples, from the convictions of deep respect for human beings, their opinion, their integrality.

There is a fight that has been made so that power is not left in the hands of a few, but rather that the global will of the people for diversity is really respected.

I have worked hard for the inclusion of those who disagree.

It's okay, you can't homogenize a person's ideas, you can only criticize his attitude.

And we don't want racist, dictatorial attitudes, we don't want a return to the past of armed conflicts that left so many dead, disappeared... so we are concerned about all that.

The issue is the space we have to change that and I really feel a lot of frustration because,

what can we do?

Our concern does not go further because we do not have the instruments to influence.

Then there should be a global observer that we can lead citizens with credibility, because it is not only giving opinions, but also seeing who is speaking.

And if you don't see that part, you can fall back into the dynamic of sensationalism, of baseless accusation.

There has to be an authorized body from an ethical point of view so that it can make an incidence.

And well, it couldn't be done.

Several times I invited various personalities to observe our own processes of democracy in Central America.

P.

You were close to Daniel Ortega.

Have you been able to talk to him in recent years?

Have you tried an approach at some point?

A.

No, no, I haven't been to Nicaragua for a few years.

It must be said that for many decades I have been a sympathizer of the Nicaraguan struggle, why not?

I was born on the left and the same in El Salvador I closely accompanied the peace processes, the struggle for transformation.

And in Guatemala itself we have made a lot of effort so that only a fascist right, a racist, exclusive right does not prosper.

We have fought a lot against that.

So I have not moved much in Central America because the situation is a breeding ground.

There are many controversies and there is a lot of insecurity.

That is why our spheres as human rights defenders are really limited to what we can do.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-09-20

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