Modern Latin American Power Point

1. FINAL PROJECT
BY LUKE TAYLOR

2. AN INDIAN WOMAN IN GUATEMALA
BY RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ
• RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ WAS A MEMBER OF THE
INDIGENOUS QUICHE MAYA COMMUNITY IN GUATEMALA
• SHE WENT THROUGH TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF
DISCRIMINATION AND POVERTY WHILE BEING FACED
WITH VIOLENCE FROM THE GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT
• THE GOVERNMENT OPPRESSED THEIR INDIGENOUS
POPULATION, THIS LED TO THE TERRIBLE REPRESSION
CARRIED OUT BY THE MILITARY DURING THE
GUATEMALAN CIVIL WAR
• SHE BECOMES AN ADVOCATE FOR SPEAKING OUT
AGAINST SOCIAL CHANGE WHILE SHOWING STRENGTH
AND CULTURAL PRIDE

3. GUATEMALAN CIVIL WAR
• 1960-1996, THIS IS WHEN RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ CAME TO BE WHO SHE IS THIS IS WHEN THE CIVIL WAR TOOK PLACE
AND DAMAGED MANY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
• THE COMMUNITIES WERE TARGETED SPECIFICALLY DUE TO THEIR PERCEIVED SUPPORT FOR THE GUERILLA GROUPS
• THE MILITARY DESTROYED VILLAGES, COMMITTED MASS KILLINGS, ACTED SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND FORCED
DISAPPEARANCE ON THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE.
• OVER 200,000 PEOPLE WERE KILLED OR DISAPPEARED DURING THIS WAR AND MOST OF THEM WERE RIGOBERTA
MENCHÚS COMMUNITY, THE MAYANS.
• IT WAS A TRAUMATIC CHAPTER IN GUATEMALA AND THE STRUGGLE FOR ITS RECOGNITION FOR THE INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE STILL CONTINUES TODAY.
• THE WAR ENDED IN 1996 WITH THE PEACE ACCORDS SIGNING WHICH DEMOBILIZED THE GUERRILLA GROUPS

4. HOW THE CIVIL WAR AND RIGOBERTA
MENCHÚ CONNECT
• FIRSTLY, SHE WAS APART OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO GOT
SEXUAL ASSAULTED, DISAPPEARED, AND OTHER FORMS OF BRUTALITY.
SHE WAS KNOWN TO BE THE WOMAN OF THE MAYA COMMUNITY.
• SHE FOUGHT NOT JUST FOR HER FAMILY AND HERSELF BUT FOR THE
OTHERS AS WELL, FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY AND EQUALITY TO HELP THE
INDIGENOUS CULTURE BE WHAT IT SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY.
• HER ACTIVISM LED HER TO BE RECOGNIZED BY OTHERS BY TELLING
PEOPLE HER STORY ON HOW THE GOVERNMENT HAS EXCLUDED THESE
PEOPLE FROM EDUCATION AND BASIC SERVICES, SHE FIGHTS FOR THE
RECOGNITION OF THESE PEOPLE MORE THAN ANYTHING.
• WITH HER FATHER AND MOTHER AND EVEN HER BROTHER BEING
KILLED BY THE MILITARY SHE KNOWS EXTENSIVELY THAT HUMAN
RIGHTS WERE ABUSED DURING THIS WAR AND OTHER FAMILIES.
• SHE ADVOCATES FOR THE LACK OF JUSTICE THE MILITARY AND
GOVERNMENT DESERVE FOR WHAT THEY PUT THESE INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE THROUGH, SHE WANTS TRUTH AND JUSTICE TO BE ADDRESSED.

5. JOSÉ MARTÍ
• POET AND POLITICAL THEORIST WHO WAS A LEADER OF THE
CUBAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT IN SPAIN, HE IS CONSIDERED
AS A HERO FOR HIS ACTIVISM FOR FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF
LATIN AMERICANS
• HE ARGUES THAT THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE HAVE NO
RIGHT TO DOMINATE LATIN AMERICA FOR IT HAS VERY RICH
HISTORY AND CULTURE THAT SHOULD BE CELEBRATED, HE CALLS
TO BE FREE FROM FOREIGN DOMINATION
• HE ALSO BELIEVED THAT THE UNITED STATES WAS INTERESTED
ONLY IN EXPLOITING THE REGION'S RESOURCES AND PEOPLE,
RATHER THAN SUPPORTING THEIR DEVELOPMENT. HE SAW THIS A
THREAT TO THE REGIONS INDEPENDENCE
• THE DIVERSE AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES HE SAYS THESE LATIN
AMERICANS HAD WERE TO BE FREE AND MADE A MOVEMENT OUT
OF IT BY EMBRACING MIXED HERITAGE.

6. HOW RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ
AND JOSÉ MARTÍ CONNECT
• FIRSTLY, THEY WERE BOTH INFLUENTIAL FIGURES IN LATIN AMERICA
WHO MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO POLITICAL MOVEMENTS.
• THEY BOTH DEDICATED THEIR LIVES TO UPLIFT INSIGNIFICANT
COMMUNITIES AND RECOGNIZE THERE WORTH TO FIGHT FOR EQUALITY
AND JUSTICE
• THEY BOTH EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY
AMIDST COLONIAL INFLUENCES
• THEY BOTH RESISTED OPPRESSIVE SYSTEMS AND BELIEVED IN THEIR
POWER TO HAVE AN ACTION ON CHANGING THE SOCIETY
• THEIR COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CULTURALISM
APPRECIATION DEMONSTRATED HOW ONE CAN INFLUENCE OTHERS TO
SHOW THEIR EQUALITY AND IMPORTANCE TO LATIN AMERICA
• LASTLY, THEY ARE BOTH KNOWN FIGURES IN LATIN AMERICA AND
THEIR LEGACIES AS SOCIAL ACTIVIST FIGURES WILL INSPIRE OTHERS
AND WILL FOREVER SHOCK THE LATIN AMERICA REGION