Maya Nobel winner Menchu eyes Guatemala presidency

Guatemala's Maya Indian Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu said on Wednesday she may run for president this year in a bid to become the second indigenous head of state in Latin America.

Menchu, a defender of Maya Indian victims of Guatemala's bloody 1960-96 civil war and who grew up speaking no Spanish, said several political parties had asked her to run as president or vice president in the September 9 election.
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Guatemalans will vote for president in a September 9 election that could go through to a second round in November.

If Menchu wins, she would follow the footsteps of Evo Morales who last year became Bolivia's first indigenous president. Latin America's Indian population suffers massive discrimination despite being a majority in several countries.

"There are some Guatemalans who would be very scared to see Rigoberta Menchu as president because they are racists," said the 48-year-old Menchu, who wears traditional Mayan clothes elaborately embroidered with birds and flowers.