Leftist party backs Maya Nobel Menchu election bid

GUATEMALA CITY, Feb 22 (Reuters) Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan Maya Indian, has chosen a left-leaning party to back her bid to become Latin America's first indigenous woman head-of-state.

Menchu, a defender of Mayan victims of Guatemala's bloody 1960-1996 civil war, will run in the September 9 election backed by an alliance of the Together for Guatemala party and Winaq, a newly formed coalition of indigenous leaders.

''We want to give hope to young people and women, not only women in Guatemala but women all over the world who have waited a long time for a chance to participate,'' Menchu told reporters at a news conference in the garden of her home in the outskirts of the capital Guatemala City.

The 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner made the announcement with the founder and head of the Together for Guatemala party, congresswoman Nineth Montenegro, who entered politics after her husband was tortured and murdered by the Guatemalan army in 1984.

Menchu's parents and brother were also tortured and killed during a 36-year-long war between right-wing governments and leftist guerrillas. The war claimed more than 200,000 lives.

''We are working with two extraordinary teams whose excellence comes from their struggle,'' said Menchu. ''These are people that have suffered and fought to bring hope to Guatemala.'' By choosing the Montenegro group, Menchu will have lost the support of Guatemala's traditional left-wing party, which emerged from the guerrilla movement, as well as several union and peasant organizations.

One of those peasant groups, the CUC, was part-founded by Menchu's father, and she herself was once an important member.

The presidential race is sure to open up old wounds from the Cold-war-era conflict.

One of Menchu's presidential competitors is retired Gen Otto Perez Molina, an army commander in the Quiche region during the height of the war.

Menchu was born in that area, one of the hardest hit by army and paramilitary massacres.

If Menchu wins, she will follow the footsteps of Evo Morales, who last year became Bolivia's first indigenous president.

Latin America's native population suffers high levels of discrimination and poverty despite being a majority in both Guatemala and Bolivia.

Guatemala's indigenous movement is much-less vocal than the well organized activism that brought Morales to power in 2006.

Menchu made yesterday's announcement two days before the New Year according to the Mayan calendar, marked by holy ceremonies in Mayan communities across the country.

''I think the new era that begins on Friday will bless our path and allow us to dream of a better world,'' she said.

Reuters SY DB1047