ABSTRACT
In January 1995, when the guerrilla movement’s most prominent dissident, Mario Payeras, died in Mexico, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union remained silent. The child’s return was followed by mutual finger-pointing. Vindicated for once, the army confined itself to asking Rigoberta for an apology. President Ramiro De Leon Carpio accused her of irresponsibility. Meanwhile, the Nobel laureate was finally demonstrating some independence from the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union. In Mexico Rigoberta never had been completely welcome in the community of revolutionary exiles. Facing the nightmare of another Rios Montt administration, the guerrillas and their allies decided they could no longer afford to abstain from elections. One slip was to demand the pena capital, which many were surprised to hear from a peace laureate, especially against Mayan soldiers who had panicked. Rigoberta has often been told that she can be elected president of Guatemala and views herself in that light.
