Menchú Tum, Rigoberta

Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the Quiché-Maya ethnic group. She was the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. Menchú is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. On Monday, February 12, 2007, Menchú announced that she would form an indigenous political party and that she would stand as a presidential candidate in the Guatemalan general election, 2007. If elected, she would be Latin America's fourth indigenous president after Mexico's Benito Juarez, Peru's Alejandro Toledo and Bolivia's Evo Morales, and the second Nobel laureate after Costa Rica's Óscar Arias to become president. She would also be Guatemala's first female president.