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Menchú to address Iraq war

Cougar News Services

In 1992, Rigoberta Menchú became the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Today she brings her experience to UH to expound on the tragedy of 9/11 and the ongoing war with Iraq in a lecture titled "Latin Americais Indigenous People and the State in the 21st Century and the Current Crisis."

The 2:30 p.m. lecture will be held in Auditorium 2 of Agnes Arnold Hall and is free and open to the public.

Menchú, who wrote the acclaimed, Rigoberta Menchú, won the honor after the Nobel committee recognized her work for South Americais indigenous peoples and victims of violence in Guatemalais civil war. 

Menchú also received the Freedom Award in 2002 from the National Civil Rights Museum.

In the 1980s, Menchú fled oppressive military rule in Guatemala, but she returned on several occasions to promote activism among the peasant farmers and indigenous tribes that were being overrun by the government.

Her family was all but destroyed because they supported the guerillas fighting the government troops, who were at times backed by the United States.

Her speech is sponsored by the UH Comparative, Critical and Cultural Studies Initiative of the Modern and Classical Languages Department and the history department. The UH Womenis Studies program is sponsoring a reception following the lecture.

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