Aftermath: Controversy

Since being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, many people have tried to disprove the legitimacy of Rigoberta's story telling. People have gone through old town records, the records in the Spanish Embassy, and have even asked locals who knew Rigoberta to comment on its authenticity.

For example David Stoll published a work that questioned Menchú saying that " extensive interviews with local townsfolk revealed that the emotional scene in which Menchú was forced to watch her brother burned to death was inaccurate on two key points: first of all, Rigoberta Menchú was elsewhere and could not have been a witness, and second, no rebels were ever burned to death in that particular town"

David Stoll's Book On Rigobera

Another source claims…
"…In one of the most moving scenes in the book, Rigoberta describes how she watched her brother Nicolas die of malnutrition. But the New York Times found Nicolas alive and well enough to be running a relatively prosperous homestead in a Guatemalan village. According to members of Rigoberta’s own family, as well as residents of her village, she also fabricated her account of how a second brother was burned alive by army troops as her parents were forced to watch."

Her response was that it is possible she biased her story slightly, but the only reason she did so was to fully tell the story of the indigenous people. Like she said in the beginning of I, Rigoberta Menchú, the story was the story of all Guatemalan Indians.

Although these accusations and claims are tied to Rigoberta's name and her story, the message and outcome that was produced are irreplaceable.