Saturday, July 23, 2011

Indigenous Women in Presidential Race

Two indigenous women are seeking to make history by reaching the two top jobs in politics: Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú, presidential candidate of the left-leaning Frente Amplio coalition and lawyer Laura Reyes, vicepresidential candidate for the Compromise, Renovation and Order party, known as CREO.

Menchú is one of the most famous faces in Guatemalan politics and this is her second attempt to run for the office. But Reyes is a newcomer, running on ticket with Eduardo Suger, a mathematician of Swiss-Guatemalan origin and founder of the private Galileo University.

Reyes, a Mayan Kaqchikel woman from the municipality of Tecpán, in the department of Chimaltenango, two hours from Guatemala City, describes herself as a resiliant woman who had to fight against the odds to have a career.

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