Zury Ríos Montt
Encyclopedia
−Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa de Weller (born January 1968) is a Guatemala
n politician
, affiliated with the Guatemalan Republican Front
(FRG) political party
. She is currently serving her fourth term in Congress
, where she serves as Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. She has also served on the Steering Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and was the Chair of the IPU's Latin American Group where she was elected unanimously by parliamentarians from the Latin American nations.
Zury Ríos was re-elected for a fourth congressional term (2008–12) in the 9 September 2007 general election
.
She is the daughter of former military dictator
and FRG founder Efraín Ríos Montt
, the leader of the three-man junta
that came to power by military coup
in 1982. As one of his staunch supporters she is a controversial figure both at home and abroad.
, introduced her to the United States
under this combined parental surname, she is nowadays best known in her home country as Zury Ríos Montt, using her father's double surname; on her personal web page she styles herself Ríos-Montt de Weller. http://www.zuryrios.com/
Rios Montt's father, retired Guatemalan army general Efrain Rios Montt, has been routinely accused by human rights groups of genocide and other crimes against humanity. Rios Montt's father also was considered the mastermind of the infamous black Thursday or Jueves negro, perhaps the worst violation of the constitution of Guatemala since the Jorge Serrano Elias coup in the mid nineties. As a result of this party-run violence, tires where burnt in the middle of the business district of the city, a mob with weapons and covered faces invaded the city, and a massive traffic jam ensued. A journalist suffered a heart attack as a consequence of running away from the FRG's mobs, and many FRG congressmen where part of this blackest day in Guatemalan history, but no legal action against suspected conspirators has been taken.
: Homero, a military doctor, was killed by guerrillas in 1982, while rescuing wounded army soldiers and attempting to put them aboard an army helicopter that was brought down by rebel weapons fire
in El Petén; Enrique was chief of the Army General Staff before resigning his commission in September 2003 when charged with having embezzled Q
30 million (€
3.25m/US$3.75m).
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2004/diciembre/01/102712.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1019/p06s02-woam.html?s=hns
When she was 10 years old, her father renounced Catholicism
and became an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Church of the Word
.
Zury Ríos studied at schools in Guatemala and Spain, where her father was assigned as military attaché following the 1974 presidential election, a process tainted by accusations of electoral fraud in which he had been a candidate. She graduated magna cum laude in political and social science from Francisco Marroquín University. Her first job (1988–1989) was as a lecturer in social and economic studies at the Escuela Cristiana Verbo in Guatemala City and she has also worked as a primary school teacher. http://www.escuelaverbo.org/
She has been married four times. Prior to her current union, she was married to Jeovanny Chávez, deputy José García Bravatti, and businessman Roberto López Villatoro.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2004/julio/08/92524.html
During her marriage to López Villatoro, she was also known as Ríos de López.
On 20 November 2004, at a ceremony held in General Ríos Montt's compound near Antigua Guatemala
, and with the general presiding at the ceremony, she married U.S. Congressman
Jerry Weller
(R-Illinois
). Following the wedding, she stated that although she planned to live in the United States
with her husband, she would continue serving in the Guatemalan legislature; a lawyer for Weller told the U.S. House Ethics Committee that she did not plan on becoming a U.S. citizen.
In March 2006 the Wellers announced that she was pregnant,
http://www.soapblox.net/liberilview/showDiary.do?diaryId=186
and a daughter, Marizú Catherine, was born on 17 August 2006 in a Guatemala City hospital.
http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/look/article.tpl?IdLanguage=13&IdPublication=1&NrIssue=763&NrSection=1&NrArticle=26827
The child holds dual U.S. and Guatemalan nationality.
in preparation for the 1990 presidential election. In that election, the FRG won 10 seats in Congress. However, her father was barred from running for president due to a provision in the constitution barring coup leaders from running. Following the election, Zury Ríos worked as an administrative assistant to the FRG congressional bloc and as private secretary to the Speaker of Congress.
In 1996 she was elected to Congress as a national list deputy. In 1998 she was elected to the FRG's executive committee and political council.
In 1999 she was re-elected to Congress, again from her party's national list. During the 2000–04 legislative session, she served as one of the two deputy speakers and on the congressional foreign relations committee. She was elected to a third term in the 2003 general election, receiving the second highest number of votes on the national electoral lists. During the 2004–08 legislature, she served as vice chair of the foreign relations committee and on the health, sport, social welfare, and ethics committees. Much of her congressional work has focused on reproductive health
issues, the HIV-AIDS situation, and combating tobacco use
; some of her supporters see her as a potential future foreign minister or even president of the Republic.
In 2003, prior to the election, Zury Ríos was accused of being one of the organizers of jueves negro
("Black Thursday"). http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4370 In mid-2003, the FRG was again trying to get General Ríos Montt on to the presidential ticket, arguing that applying the constitutional ban preventing former coup leaders from seeking the presidency should not apply to him in accordance with the principle of nonretroactive application of the law
: his 1982 coup d'état
preceded the enactment of the 1985 Constitution. After a series of court decisions ruling alternately that he could or could not run, culminating with a 21 July 2003 ruling by the Supreme Court suspending his candidacy, on Thursday, 24 July 2003 FRG officials and supporters led a mass demonstration in Guatemala City
to protest his disqualification. The demonstration degenerated into a bloody riot that left one man dead (journalist Héctor Fernando Ramírez
); it was, however, perceived as having been successful in getting General Ríos Montt's name on the presidential ballot when, a week later, the Constitutional Court overturned the Supreme Court's ban.
Although General Ríos Montt ultimately lost the November 2003 election, he enjoyed his daughter's full support. Zury Ríos accompanied her father on his campaign trail, generally introducing him, in highly favorable terms, before he addressed his rallies. She was quoted in the press as saying, "my father is my inspiration." http://www.prensalibre.com/especiales/ME/elecciones/tribuna/archivo/10/central.html
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n politician
Politics of Guatemala
Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Guatemala is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both...
, affiliated with the Guatemalan Republican Front
Guatemalan Republican Front
The Guatemalan Republican Front is a right-wing political party in Guatemala.It was created in 1989 by former president and dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, and formally registered in 1990...
(FRG) political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
. She is currently serving her fourth term in Congress
Congress of Guatemala
The Congress of the Republic is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Guatemala.It comprises 158 deputies, who are elected by direct universal suffrage to serve four-year terms . Twenty-nine of these are elected from nationwide lists, with the rest on a district list basis...
, where she serves as Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. She has also served on the Steering Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and was the Chair of the IPU's Latin American Group where she was elected unanimously by parliamentarians from the Latin American nations.
Zury Ríos was re-elected for a fourth congressional term (2008–12) in the 9 September 2007 general election
Guatemalan general election, 2007
A general election was held in Guatemala in two rounds on 9 September and 4 November 2007. Voters went to the polls to elect a new President and Vice President of the Republic, 158 congressional deputies, and 332 mayors.-Results:...
.
She is the daughter of former military dictator
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
and FRG founder Efraín Ríos Montt
Efraín Ríos Montt
José Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. In the 2003 presidential elections, he unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front .Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most...
, the leader of the three-man junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
that came to power by military coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in 1982. As one of his staunch supporters she is a controversial figure both at home and abroad.
Name
She is sometimes referred to as Zury Ríos Sosa, in accordance with traditional naming conventions in the Spanish-speaking world. Although her current husband, former U.S. Congressman Jerry WellerJerry Weller
Gerald C. "Jerry" Weller is an American politician who was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing .- Early life:...
, introduced her to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
under this combined parental surname, she is nowadays best known in her home country as Zury Ríos Montt, using her father's double surname; on her personal web page she styles herself Ríos-Montt de Weller. http://www.zuryrios.com/
Rios Montt's father, retired Guatemalan army general Efrain Rios Montt, has been routinely accused by human rights groups of genocide and other crimes against humanity. Rios Montt's father also was considered the mastermind of the infamous black Thursday or Jueves negro, perhaps the worst violation of the constitution of Guatemala since the Jorge Serrano Elias coup in the mid nineties. As a result of this party-run violence, tires where burnt in the middle of the business district of the city, a mob with weapons and covered faces invaded the city, and a massive traffic jam ensued. A journalist suffered a heart attack as a consequence of running away from the FRG's mobs, and many FRG congressmen where part of this blackest day in Guatemalan history, but no legal action against suspected conspirators has been taken.
Family and education
Zury Ríos Montt was born in January 1968, the third child of Efraín Ríos Montt and María Teresa Sosa Ávila. Her brothers, Enrique and Homero, both followed their father's military footsteps and enlisted in the armed forcesMilitary of Guatemala
The Military of Guatemala consists of National Army of Guatemala , the Guatemalan Navy and the Guatemalan Air Force ....
: Homero, a military doctor, was killed by guerrillas in 1982, while rescuing wounded army soldiers and attempting to put them aboard an army helicopter that was brought down by rebel weapons fire
Guatemalan Civil War
The Guatemalan Civil War ran from 1960-1996. The thirty-six-year civil war began as a grassroots, popular response to the rightist and military usurpation of civil government , and the President's disrespect for the human and civil rights of the majority of the population...
in El Petén; Enrique was chief of the Army General Staff before resigning his commission in September 2003 when charged with having embezzled Q
Guatemalan quetzal
The quetzal is the currency of Guatemala. It is named after the national bird of Guatemala, the Resplendent Quetzal. In ancient Mayan culture, the quetzal bird's tail feathers were used as currency. It is divided into 100 cents, called centavos in standard Spanish or lenes in Guatemalan slang...
30 million (€
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
3.25m/US$3.75m).
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2004/diciembre/01/102712.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1019/p06s02-woam.html?s=hns
When she was 10 years old, her father renounced Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and became an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Church of the Word
Church of the Word
The Church of the Word is an evangelical pentecostal Christian church. Its parent organisation is the Gospel Outreach church, which is based in California, United States....
.
Zury Ríos studied at schools in Guatemala and Spain, where her father was assigned as military attaché following the 1974 presidential election, a process tainted by accusations of electoral fraud in which he had been a candidate. She graduated magna cum laude in political and social science from Francisco Marroquín University. Her first job (1988–1989) was as a lecturer in social and economic studies at the Escuela Cristiana Verbo in Guatemala City and she has also worked as a primary school teacher. http://www.escuelaverbo.org/
She has been married four times. Prior to her current union, she was married to Jeovanny Chávez, deputy José García Bravatti, and businessman Roberto López Villatoro.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2004/julio/08/92524.html
During her marriage to López Villatoro, she was also known as Ríos de López.
On 20 November 2004, at a ceremony held in General Ríos Montt's compound near Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish Mudéjar-influenced Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruins of colonial churches...
, and with the general presiding at the ceremony, she married U.S. Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Jerry Weller
Jerry Weller
Gerald C. "Jerry" Weller is an American politician who was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing .- Early life:...
(R-Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
). Following the wedding, she stated that although she planned to live in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with her husband, she would continue serving in the Guatemalan legislature; a lawyer for Weller told the U.S. House Ethics Committee that she did not plan on becoming a U.S. citizen.
In March 2006 the Wellers announced that she was pregnant,
http://www.soapblox.net/liberilview/showDiary.do?diaryId=186
and a daughter, Marizú Catherine, was born on 17 August 2006 in a Guatemala City hospital.
http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/look/article.tpl?IdLanguage=13&IdPublication=1&NrIssue=763&NrSection=1&NrArticle=26827
The child holds dual U.S. and Guatemalan nationality.
Political career
In 1989 Zury Ríos joined the public relations department of the then newly created Guatemalan Republican FrontGuatemalan Republican Front
The Guatemalan Republican Front is a right-wing political party in Guatemala.It was created in 1989 by former president and dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, and formally registered in 1990...
in preparation for the 1990 presidential election. In that election, the FRG won 10 seats in Congress. However, her father was barred from running for president due to a provision in the constitution barring coup leaders from running. Following the election, Zury Ríos worked as an administrative assistant to the FRG congressional bloc and as private secretary to the Speaker of Congress.
In 1996 she was elected to Congress as a national list deputy. In 1998 she was elected to the FRG's executive committee and political council.
In 1999 she was re-elected to Congress, again from her party's national list. During the 2000–04 legislative session, she served as one of the two deputy speakers and on the congressional foreign relations committee. She was elected to a third term in the 2003 general election, receiving the second highest number of votes on the national electoral lists. During the 2004–08 legislature, she served as vice chair of the foreign relations committee and on the health, sport, social welfare, and ethics committees. Much of her congressional work has focused on reproductive health
Reproductive health
Within the framework of the World Health Organization's definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system...
issues, the HIV-AIDS situation, and combating tobacco use
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
; some of her supporters see her as a potential future foreign minister or even president of the Republic.
In 2003, prior to the election, Zury Ríos was accused of being one of the organizers of jueves negro
Jueves negro
Jueves negro refers to a violent series of political demonstrations that created havoc in Guatemala City on 24 July and 25 July 2003....
("Black Thursday"). http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4370 In mid-2003, the FRG was again trying to get General Ríos Montt on to the presidential ticket, arguing that applying the constitutional ban preventing former coup leaders from seeking the presidency should not apply to him in accordance with the principle of nonretroactive application of the law
Retroactivity
Retroactivity in law is the application of a given norm to events that took place or began to produce legal effects, before the law was approved...
: his 1982 coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
preceded the enactment of the 1985 Constitution. After a series of court decisions ruling alternately that he could or could not run, culminating with a 21 July 2003 ruling by the Supreme Court suspending his candidacy, on Thursday, 24 July 2003 FRG officials and supporters led a mass demonstration in Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
to protest his disqualification. The demonstration degenerated into a bloody riot that left one man dead (journalist Héctor Fernando Ramírez
Héctor Fernando Ramírez
Héctor Fernando Ramírez, better known as Reportero X died on July 24, 2003 of a heart attack in Guatemala City while being chased by a mob in what is referred to as jueves negro . He was 61 years old. He had started his career as a radio news reporter...
); it was, however, perceived as having been successful in getting General Ríos Montt's name on the presidential ballot when, a week later, the Constitutional Court overturned the Supreme Court's ban.
Although General Ríos Montt ultimately lost the November 2003 election, he enjoyed his daughter's full support. Zury Ríos accompanied her father on his campaign trail, generally introducing him, in highly favorable terms, before he addressed his rallies. She was quoted in the press as saying, "my father is my inspiration." http://www.prensalibre.com/especiales/ME/elecciones/tribuna/archivo/10/central.html