Rigoberta Menchú's Curse and that of All Poor Guatemalans: Her Own Family?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! That's right!

Read all about it in David Stoll's tell-all classic, Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.

Chapter 19: Rigoberta Leaves the Guerrilla Movement.

Pages 265-266:

"Then, amid another family occasion, what had long been dreaded finally came to pass. On November 4, 1995, one of Rigoberta's nieces, the only surviving child of Victor Menchú, was getting married in Guatemala City. Suddenly the festivities were interrupted by terrible news. Another of Rigoberta's nieces had been descending from a bus when her infant son was snatched out of her arms. Men with guns sped away with the child in a car with polarized windows.

"Since Rigoberta had been investigating an army massacre, it was logical to suppose that this was a reaction, if not from the [Guatemalan Army] high command, then from officers whom it was strangely unable to restrain. The purpose was to kidnap my son, Rigoberta declared (4). If it was not the State, show me the contrary (5). As personages up to the UN secretary-general condemned the kidnapping, the security forces set up roadblocks to find little Juan Carlos Velásquez Menchú.

¿Familiares traicioneros?

Miguel Velásquez Lobos was not among her favorite in-laws. Known for his drinking and prolonged absences, he was now refusing to answer telephone calls from a kidnapper, who was demanding half a million dollars in a Mayan accent. If the child doesn't appear, Miguel responded to Rigoberta's interrogations, you will be to blame. On the sixth excruciating day, he arranged the reappearance of his son. With the complicity of his wife, Rigoberta's niece, he had parked the baby with his parents near Santa Cruz del Quiché. The [Nobel Peace Prize] laureate had refused to loan him US$6,000 to expand his business selling watches, boom boxes, and bootleg cassette tapes.

"The child's return was followed by mutual finger-pointing. Vindicated for once, the army confined itself to asking Rigoberta for an apology. President Ramiro De Leon Carpio accused her of irresponsibility(6). A government editorialist accused her of planning the hoax. Fortunately, Rigoberta had been the first to identify the boy's father as a suspect. Embarrassed and irritated, she demanded an investigation of whether army agents had lured her relatives into their inept plot(7)."

Author's footnotes, numbers 4-7, for this section:

4. "Menchú: 'El propósito era secuestrar a mi hijo,'" Diario El Gráfico, November 6, 1995, p. 10.

5. Fernández García 1995:9

6. "Irresponsable la versión sobre el secuestro de sobrino de Menchú," Diario El Gráfico, November 13, 1995, p. 10.

7. "No es con calumnias y campañas negras como se construirá la paz, la reconciliación, y el estado de derecho en Guatemala," press release, Rigoberta Menchú Foundation, November 24, 1995.

END OF TRANSCRIPTION FROM STOLL'S BOOK