Before every modification-harvesting maize, cutting flowers for a sacred event, or killing an animal for ceremonial purposes-a person must turn to the sun, the connection to their “one God,” and ask for permission from nature to engage in such actions. The ceremonies that mark Maya-Quiché life emphasize the importance of communing with nature and harming it as little as possible. Rigoberta contrasts this capitalist mentality with the values that her community promotes, centered on respecting all living things: humans, animals, and plants. In Rigoberta’s view, her time in the fincas represents the birth of her political consciousness: her gradual understanding of the injustice that affects so many Indian people, in a system that values profit over human lives.

Rigoberta thus developed a deeply rooted hatred of the finca system and the ladinos who exploited poor Indians for personal gain. Experiences such as these made Rigoberta angry, as she realized that her mother worked extremely hard but that her family still didn’t have enough money to buy basic needs like medicine. Two of Rigoberta’s brothers, Felipe and Nicolás, died on the fincas: Felipe of poisoning due to the chemical products sprayed onto the plantation, and Nicolás of malnutrition. Landowners and their overseers used every available occasion to mistreat workers, lying about their debts and deducting money from their salary as punishment. The fincas were part of a system of exploitation geared toward robbing poor Indians of their hard-earned salaries. During the remaining eight months, they worked in the fincas as agricultural workers, collecting plants such as cotton and coffee. For four months in the year, the villagers stayed in the Altiplano for the maize harvest, which gave them enough food to survive. Within the Indigenous group’s system of collective representation, Rigoberta’s parents were chosen as elected representatives in charge of defending the community’s well-being and survival. Rigoberta’s parents, the founders of their village in the Altiplano, played an important role in protecting the community. Rigoberta’s childhood took place between the Altiplano mountains of El Quiché and the fincas (“plantations”) on the coast. At the time of this interview, Rigoberta Menchú is a 23-year-old member of the Indigenous Maya-Quiché community in Guatemala. I, Rigoberta Menchú is an autobiography transcribed by anthropologist Elisabeth Burgos-Debray after interviewing Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchú Tum in 1982.

I rigoberta