Rios, Suri

Born in the family of General Efrain Rios Montt . From her youth she was involved in political processes, sometimes tough and dramatic. Suri was 10 years old when Rios Montt changed his religious denomination, moving from Catholicism to Protestant evangelism . Her 14-15 years old had the presidency of her father and the height of the civil war . At 16, she lost her brother, military physician Omero Rios Sos , who died in a helicopter crash that flew after the wounded. It penetrated the right anti - communist worldview.

Suri Rios Sosa received her primary education in Madrid , where Efrain Rios Montt served as the military attache of Guatemala. Returning to her homeland, she graduated from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Francisco Marockin. She was a student of political courses in Washington and Taipei .

In 1988, she joined the Evangelical School of Christian Word as a teacher of sociology and economics, and then worked as a primary school teacher.

In the Republican Front

In 1989, Suri Rios joined the conservative populist party of the Guatemalan Republican Front ( FRG ), created by her father. She was engaged in clerical work in the party and international contacts. In 1995, she was elected to parliament. She was a member of the commissions on healthcare, social security and foreign affairs. She was involved in gender issues, social policy, international relations, AIDS and smoking.

Suri Rios political position coincided with the official doctrine of the FRG. At the same time, she emphasizes the commitment that her father’s ultra-right views and his political legacy are a source of inspiration. In July 2003, Suri Rios was one of the organizers of Black Thursday, a riot in Guatemala, demanding that Efrain Rios Montt be allowed to run for president ^[1] .

Since 2004, Suri Rios Sosa replaced Efrain Rios Montt as Chairman of the FRG. Under her leadership, the party adhered to the former positions of " Riosmontism " and conservative republicanism . However, in the FRG, a liberal trend was gradually intensified, focused on moving away from the traditional principles of the times of Rios Montt. In 2011, Suri Rios did not agree on a presidential candidacy. Soon she resigned and resigned from the FRG. In 2012 , her deputy powers expired.

Political commentators, especially Peruvian ones , compare Suri Rios with Keiko Fujimori ^[2] .

Presidency Challenger

After breaking up with FRG, Suri Rios remains an active politician, one of the leaders of the VIVA party and the right-wing forces of Guatemala. Since 2013, the main focus of her activities has been the protection of Efrain Rios Montt from prosecution. The sentence against the ex-president was forced to cancel the judicial authorities under the threat of mass protests and armed riots ^[3] . Suri Rios categorically objects to the placement of his father in a psychiatric hospital for forensic examination ^[4] .

In April 2015, Suri Rios de Weller was nominated for the presidency of Guatemala by the VIVA party ^[5] . She was supported by many members of the Avemilgua - the Civil War Veterans Association , which unites supporters of Rios Montt from the former military and the "patroller" ^[6] . In July 2015, the highest electoral authority forbade her to run as a relative of the former dictator ^[7] . Suri Rios challenged the ban in court. ^[8]

Suri Rios’s election program was based on republican principles, “ classical liberalism ” in the economy (free enterprise, low taxes) and social programs ^[9]

In the first round of the presidential election on September 6, 2015, Suri Rios Sosa de Weller took the fifth place out of fourteen candidates, receiving about 6% of the vote (the other right-wing candidate supported by Avemilgua - Jimmy Morales - took the first place) ^[10] .

Suri Rios is married for the fourth time. Her husbands were political activist Heovanni Chavez, MP José García Bravatti, entrepreneur Roberto Lopez Villiatoro (brother of Governor Huétenenango ).

On November 20, 2004, Suri Rios married an American lawyer and politician Jerry Weller , a member of the Republican Party House of Representatives , and a Latin American specialist. ^[11] From this time on, she bears the name Suri Rios Sosa de Weller. He has a daughter in marriage.

Uncle Suri Rios, Catholic bishop of Mario Enrique Rios Montt, is the human rights activist and political opponent of his brother Efrain Rios Montt, although he maintained a respectful personal relationship with him.

• Lucia Pinochet Iriarte