Zury Ríos | |
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Member of the Congress of Guatemala | |
In office 14 January 1996 – 14 January 2012 |
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Second Vice President of the Congress of Guatemala | |
In office 14 January 2000 – 14 January 2004 |
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President | Efraín Ríos Montt |
Preceded by | Rubén Darío Morales Véliz |
Succeeded by | Jorge Méndez Herbruger |
Personal details | |
Born |
Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa 26 January 1968 Guatemala City, Guatemala |
Nationality | Guatemalan |
Spouse(s) | Jerry Weller |
Children | 1 |
Alma mater | Francisco Marroquín University |
Profession | Lawyer |
Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa de Weller (born 26 January 1968) is a Guatemalan politician. 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. She served four terms in Congress, where she was Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. She 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 was the presidential cnadidate for the party VIVA (Vision con Valores) at the 2015 elections.
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 Weller, 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. 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 were 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 were part of this blackest day in Guatemalan history, but no legal action against suspected conspirators has been taken.