Hardships: Losses

As mentioned before, Rigoberta lost her first brother to the poisonous pesticide used on the farm. Shortly after that tragedy, another struck, as another of her brother died of malnutrition. Petrocinio, one of her other brothers, was later tortured and then killed by the army.

A year after her brother Petrocinio was killed; Rigoberta lost her father in an event that received widespread coverage in the international press. Vicente Menchú, along with other representatives of indigenous groups, occupied the Spanish embassy in Guatemala City to press their demands. The army attacked the embassy and burned it, killing 39 people, including her father, who burned to death.

The next year the army kidnapped, tortured, and quite brutally killed her mother. Shortly after that, they kidnapped Rigoberta’s final sixteen-year-old brother. The soldiers killed him too.

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