washington, oct 16 (ips) -- streams of eulogy, from many parts of
the world, poured friday for guatemala's 33-year-old human rights
champion rigoberta menchu, who won the 1992 nobel peace prize.
menchu, of the quiche indian nation, was catapulted overnight from
a little-known, though admirable, defender of the rights of her
country's indian people into a world celebrity.
words of praise for the wisdom of the nobel peace prize committee
which awarded the distinction, as well as messages of
congratulations for menchu, came from capitals as far apart as
washington, tokyo, harare, london, santiago and buenos aires.
here is a sampling of the reactions which came from the
ibero-american countries and the united states.
in washington, state department spokesman richard boucher said,
''the peace prize award clearly is a token of recognition of
menchu's work.
''we also hope that it will generate increasing attention to the
need for respect for human rights in guatemala.''
in santiago, chile, the chief of the mapuche indian nation, aucan
huilcaman, described the peace prize award to menchu as a positive
step, but said ''she must now emphasise her role as an indian with
more force...
''we thought she might win the award, seeing that 1992 is the
500th anniversary of columbus' arrival to america. it would have
been a mistake to ignore the indigenous people this year.
''rigoberta menchu should assume her indian identity with greater
precision and daring. she is extremely influenced by ideological
and party politics. this prize should be to strengthen the
indigenous people, not political movements.''
he criticised the fact that menchu was in cuba on the 500th
anniversary--oct. 12. this might be construed as a sign of
solidarity with cuba's political viewpoints, he said
in nicaragua, a leader of the misquitoe indian nation, mirna
cunningham, said the award to menchu was ''a recognition of the
realities in which the american indian peoples live.''
in spain, locally-based non-government organisations (ong) said
the award was in recognition of the indians' struggle for their
land rights, and cultural identity. (more/ips)
guatemala: streams (2)
gustavo villapalos, rector of madrid's complutence university and
chairman of the spanish committee for menchu's peace prize
candidateship, said this year's award had special significance.
''rigoberta,'' he said, ''is tenaciously committed to the defense
of america's indian peoples. she has drawn attention to a group of
people who at one time shone brilliantly for their culture and
knowledge.''
the guatemalan executive-secretary of the latin american and
caribbean economic commission (cepal), gert rosenthal, said the
peace prize award to menchu ''is an encouragement'' at a time when
the world is gripped by grim cultural and ethnic tensions.
the award, he said, was a recognition of menchu's work ''in
support of reconciliation, justice and common sense.''
ecuadorian indian and humanitarian organisations said the peace
prize award to menchu reflected on the indian people's rights to
autonomy and to their own culture.
representatives of the ecuadorean human rights commission (cedhu),
of the united workers' front federation (fut) and of the
ecuadorean indian nations confederation (conaie) said they were
''profoundly satisfied'' with the award to menchu.
said cedhu president elsie monge, ''menchu represents the dignity
of our peoples and the struggle for our rights.''
argentina's committe for menchu's candidateship expressed ''joy
and satisfaction'' at the news of menchu's selection.
it said, ''the guatemalan government is obstructing the
pacification of the country, because it is unwilling to
investigate the continuing human rights violations.''
guatemala has been in the midst of virtual civil war for a quarter
of a century. more than 100,000 people have died in the conflict
between the armed forces and the guatemalan national revolutionary
union (urng) guerrillas.
another 30,000 have ''disappeared,'' after being arrested by the
police. it is generally believed they have been executed.
more than 50 percent of guatemala's population are native indians.
thousands have been uprooted from their homes, or have been
obliged to flee the country and become refugees.
representatives of urng and of president jorge serrano's
government have been meeting in mexico for more than 18 months in
an effort to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. some
proress has been made, but no ceasefire has so far been agreed.
(ends/ips/tr/sp/hr/ip/ggr/mv/fj/mas/dc/mg/mm/ego/ono/im/it)