Jesús Tecú Osorio (born 1971 in Río Negro,

Baja Verapaz Baja Verapaz () is a department in Guatemala. In 2018, the population of the department was 299,476. The capital is Salamá. 78.5% of the department’s population identifies as Maya, with 53% belonging to the Achi linguistic group. Baja Verap ...

) is a

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

social activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

, worker for

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, and advocate for the Achi Maya. In 1982, much of the population of Río Negro was murdered; Tecú survived, but witnessed the deaths of most of his immediate family members, including his two year old little brother, who was torn from his arms and thrown into a ravine. He spent two years as a household

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

to one of the perpetrators before being remanded into the custody of his older sister, who had also survived the massacres. In 1993, Tecú began legal proceedings to have the

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

of Río Negro exhumed; this led directly to the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

of three of the men responsible for the massacre and, in 1998, to their being sentenced to death for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

(in 1999, their sentences were commuted to 60 years in prison). As of 2006, this is the only Guatemalan trial for crimes against humanity committed during the civil war for which the perpetrators have been convicted. Tecú has organized four separate charitable organizations, including a

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...

clinic, for the Achi Maya people. He has written his memoirs – these have been translated into English as ''The Massacres of Rio Negro'' – and gone on speaking tours throughout Canada, Europe, and the USA. In 1996, Tecú won the

Reebok Human Rights Award The Reebok Human Rights Award honoured activists under the age of thirty who fought for human rights through non-violent means. Each year, the award was given to four or five individuals. Each received a grant of US $50,000 that was to be used to ...

; he used the

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

25,000 prize money to start the New Hope Foundation which provided scholarships and later expanded into a school called the New Hope Community Bilingual Institute in

Rabinal Rabinal is a small town, with a population of 15,157 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & to ...

. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary law degree from

Saint Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

. In 2010, Tecu was awarded the Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty by

Human Rights First Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its work centers on four m ...

.Guatemalan Genocide Survivor Wins Roger Baldwin Award
at

; published March 25, 2010; retrieved August 15, 2014

References

External links

Reebok's profile of Jesús Tecú Osorio
(via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

)
Fundación Nueva Esperanza/ New Hope Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tecu Osorio, Jesus 1971 births Living people People from Baja Verapaz Department Guatemalan human rights activists Guatemalan Maya people Indigenous activists of North America

See also

References

External links