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Praise for Rigoberta Menchú and
the Story of All Poor Guatemalans
"Riveting and masterfully researched … devastating.… David Stoll’s
book has rightly caused an uproar."
—The New Republic
"Stoll’s book is not an attempt to debunk Rigoberta’s story, but to serve
as a warning that elevating one version of history to cult status
inevitably silences a multitude of others."
—Kirkus Reviews
"[Stoll’s] generally supportive attitude toward the peasants’ cause and
his denunciation of the army’s terror makes his book all the more
convincing. This is provocative reading that’s sure to shake up
assumptions—and rile tempers—across the political spectrum."
—Publishers Weekly
"More than an exposé or refutation, Stoll’s account presents an
increasingly complex—and I think ultimately sympathetic—portrait of
an exceptional, eloquent individual caught up in personal and historical
tragedies doing her best to maintain her integrity. The strength of this
book lies, not in its refutation of Rigoberta Menchú’s story but in its
inquiry into what the instant worldwide appeal of her autobiography
tells us about how we choose to understand recent Guatemalan history,
rural Guatemalan society, and more generally, revolutionary struggle
and authenticity in the voices of others. This is a well-written, engaging
(for some, enraging) book."
—John Watanabe
Dartmouth College
"The rule of all sociological study should be a simple one: no icons. Not
Karl Marx; not Max Weber (sigh); not Michel Foucault; not anyone.
Rigoberta Menchú should not be an exception. This book is going to
explode over Guatemalan and Latin American studies."
—Timothy Wickham-Crowley
Georgetown University
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"Stoll’s frank examination of Rigoberta Menchu’s life is the best
biography to date of the indigenous leader.… The book is an
important contribution to the truth."
—Christian Century
"If books such as Menchú’s are going to be required reading,
then Stoll’s is more necessary still—as a corrective."
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Based on ten years of research by Stoll, … this book questions the
veracity of Menchú’s autobiography, specifically aspects of her family
background, her childhood, land questions, and violent acts against her
family. This volume will be important for Stoll’s analysis of how the
academic and political Left functions and uses symbols to idealize
victims of oppression. Alandmarkpublication that most academic
and large public libraries should acquire."
—Library Journal(starred review)
"I, Rigoberta Menchúis a widely used college text, and
Stoll’s book makes a pedagogically important complement to
the issues raised by that text."
—Edward F. Fischer
Vanderbilt University
"Afascinating and challenging book that cuts very close to
the core of many sacred myths."
—Foreign Affairs
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Rigoberta Menchú
and the Story of
All Poor Guatemalans
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EXPANDED EDITION
Rigoberta Menchú
and the Story of
All Poor Guatemalans
C C C
David Stoll
New York London
First published in 1999 by Westview Press.
Published 2018 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2008 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stoll, David, 1952–
Rigoberta Menchú and the story of all poor Guatemalans / David
Stoll.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-3574-4 (hc).—0-8133-43968 (pbk.)
1. Menchú, Rigoberta. 2. Quiché women—Biography. 3. Human
rights workers—Guatemala—Biography. 4. Mayas—Civil rights.
5. Mayas—Government relations. 6. Guatemala—Politics and
government. 7. Guatemala—Ethnic relations. I. Title.
F1465.2.Q5M3885 1999
972.81'00497415—dc21
[b] 98-42832
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-0-8133-4396-9 (pbk)
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Contents
Foreword to the 2008 Edition: How I Became Persona Non Grata
by Elizabeth Burgos ix
Preface xviii
Acknowledgments xxvi
Chronology xxviii
1 The Story of All Poor Guatemalans 1
C C
PART 1
Vicente Menchú and His Village
2 Uspantán as an Agricultural Frontier 15
3 The Struggle for Chimel 29
C C
PART 2
Popular Revolutionary War
4 Revolutionary Justice Comes to Uspantán 43
5 The Death of Petrocinio 63
6 The Massacre at the Spanish Embassy 71
7 Vicente Menchú and the
Committee for Campesino Unity 89
8 Vicente Menchú and the
Guerrilla Army of the Poor 107
vii
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viii • Contents
9 The Death of Juana Tum and the
Destruction of Chimel 125
10 The Death Squads in Uspantán 141
C C
PART 3
Vicente’s Daughter and
the Reinvention of Chimel
11 Where Was Rigoberta? 159
12 Rigoberta Joins the
Revolutionary Movement 167
13 The Construction of
I, Rigoberta Menchú 177
14 Rigoberta’s Secret 189
C C
PART 4
The Laureate Goes Home
15 The Campaign for the Nobel 203
16 The Lonely Life of a Nobel Laureate 219
17 Rigoberta and Redemption 231
18 The New Chimel 249
19 Rigoberta Leaves the Guerrilla Movement 265
20 Epitaph for an Eyewitness Account 273
Afterword to the 2008 Edition: AParallel Universe 285
Notes 303
Bibliography 331
Index 343
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Foreword to the 2008 Edition
How I Became Persona Non Grata
by Elizabeth Burgos
The invitation to introduce this book summons memories that take on the
sepia tones of old family photographs. It means going back, not just a
quarter of a century to the wintry evening when Rigoberta Menchú came
to my apartment in Paris, but to my childhood in Venezuela. It means re-
turning to experiences so intense that they changed the direction of my
life. It means returning to a time when my life was dedicated to an idea
shared with others, many of whom are now dead. It is not my purpose to
besmirch or rehabilitate Rigoberta Menchú. Nor do I wish to enter into
polemics. But I played a certain role in launching her career, and some
U.S. academics have taken the liberty of projecting their theories into my
relationship with her. So I have decided to accept the opportunity to in-
troduce David Stoll’s book.
My history with the testimonial genre did not begin when I met
Rigoberta Menchú, nor did my experiences with the consequences of ar-
bitrary power. I was born long after the death of General Juan Vicente
Gómez, who presided over the longest dictatorship to date in Venezue-
lan history, but his abuses continued to echo through my childhood.
One of the men he imprisoned in the dungeon of Castillo de Puerto
Cabello was my mother’s cousin, the philosopher Carlos Brandt. He
showed us the scars from the shackles around his ankles. I remember his
memoir of imprisonment as well as that of another intellectual impris-
oned by the dictator—José Rafael Pocaterra—who happened to be from
my home town of Valencia. Under the dictatorship of General Marcos
Pérez Jiménez (1948–1958), another cousin named Carmen Emilia used
to visit us daily. One day, when I was about ten years old, she did not
arrive. I remember the whispers that she had fallen into the hands of
National Security. When she reappeared, I heard more whispers, about
the tortures she had suffered. Carmen Emilia never wrote about her ex-
periences. An Hispanic sense of honor, still prevalent in Venezuela then,
obliged her to keep quiet about the outrages she had suffered. None of
ix
