Thread: Nobel Peace Prize winner visits former Postville workers

Nobel Peace Prize winner visits former Postville workers
By TONY LEYS • tleys@dmreg.com • November 8, 2008

Postville, Ia. - People around the world are watching what happens to Guatemalans and Mexicans caught up in last May's immigration raid here, a Nobel Peace Prize winner said Saturday.

"They are sensitive to your pain and your suffering," Rigoberta Menchú told immigrants gathered at St. Bridget's Catholic Church.


Menchú, a human-rights activist from Guatemala, won the Nobel in 1992. She is internationally known for standing up against repression of poor people in her homeland.

She said the extensive press coverage of the Postville situation has turned a spotlight on the way immigrants can be exploited by employers and unjustly treated by the government. "How many people are suffering like this in the same situations that we don't know about?" she said.

She added that she hoped the attention would help convince Americans that their country needs to change its policies.

Hundreds of immigrants, mainly Guatemalans, took refuge in the church in the days after the raid at the nearby Agriprocessors meatpacking plant. The number of Guatemalans in Postville has dwindled to a few dozen since then.

Many of those who avoided arrest during the raid have left, either to return home or to find work elsewhere in the United States.

Menchú, 49, was dressed in a colorful, woven skirt, blouse and head scarf, which are traditional clothes of her indigenous Mayan people. She spoke in English and Spanish, and she listened as a series of immigrants told their stories.

Pedro Arturo Lopez, 13, told her how his mother was arrested at Agriprocessors, jailed, then deported to Mexico. Pedro was at school when the raid happened. He recalled that when he got home, his father rushed him inside, saying, "We don't want the helicopters to see you." Pedro said he and his two siblings spent the next week hiding in their basement.

Menchú listened to others recount how children used dangerous power tools in the plant; how workers spent long hours in filthy conditions; and how women were sexually harassed by supervisors.

She heard a woman in the audience decry the fact that hundreds of workers were imprisoned for five months on charges of identity theft. The woman said the immigrants did not know the false papers they bought contained Social Security numbers that actually belonged to other people.

A Guatemalan woman, Irma Lopez, asked Menchú to use her prominent voice on the Postville immigrants' behalf. Lopez asked Menchú to speak to President-elect Barack Obama about them. "We want to work," Lopez said. "We don't like to live off of charity." Lopez and several other women at Saturday's event were released after the raid because they had to care for children. But they are banned from working, and they must wear electronic bracelets on their ankles. The women told Menchú the devices become painfully hot when they're plugged in for up to two hours of recharging.

The bracelets allow government officials to track the women's whereabouts.
The government says the devices are a humane way to deal with defendants who otherwise would be jailed.

Menchú said the bracelets are dehumanizing. "I've never seen anything like this," she told reporters later. "I've never seen people in chains this way." She said she plans to talk to human-rights activists about the practice. She also hopes to speak to Obama early next year, and she expressed optimism that his election would bring changes in immigration policies.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/articl ... S/81108014

The women told Menchú the devices become painfully hot when they're plugged in for up to two hours of recharging.

I wonder if she would like jail better, or how would she complain about that. More misdirected responsibility. Tell this to the leaders of your country lady. Tell them to give you a job, tell them to quit corrupting the life out of your country.

Well maybe they would prefer being in detention, I say let them make the choice...because with out one or the other they will flee and it won't be to their home country.

Menchu is a Communist, Indigenous woman here to meddle in our affairs....she needs to enact change in her country so that her fellow Guats don't come here to be exploited and to abuse our generosity and charity and social services as well as our patience. Go home lady and take them all with you, care for them in YOUR country.

Originally Posted by legalatina

Menchu is a Communist, Indigenous woman here to meddle in our affairs....she needs to enact change in her country so that her fellow Guats don't come here to be exploited and to abuse our generosity and charity and social services as well as our patience. Go home lady and take them all with you, care for them in YOUR country.

I second and third that, legalatina!

Menchú listened to others recount how children used dangerous power tools in the plant;

Oh my God!! We better close all the woodshops in every Junior High School!!!

Is this the best they can do to make us feel sorry for the illegals?

Menchú, a human-rights activist from Guatemala, won the Nobel in 1992. She is internationally known for standing up against repression of poor people in her homeland.

Your in the wrong country Menchu! These peope are not being repressed! They are breaking our laws and as such, are being held accountable!