Zury Ríos Sosa, candidate for the presidency of Guatemala, on March 27, 2023 in the capital. Moises Castillo (AP)
Zury Ríos, daughter of dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, has reacted angrily to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's proposal to pardon former Guatemalan guerrilla César Montes. In a series of messages published on social networks, the conservative candidate for the Presidency of Guatemala, has rejected the proposal of López Obrador, who has also offered that Montes be transferred to Mexican territory. "César Montes is a guerrilla, terrorist and convicted murderer, who viciously executed three of our brave soldiers. His intervention seeking clemency for this criminal is an insult to Guatemalans who yearn for peace," Rios said in a video. "In Guatemala we Guatemalans decide and no one else," the politician has snapped at the Mexican president. So far the Guatemalan government has not commented on López Obrador's offer.
President @lopezobrador_, your speech seeking clemency for Cesar Montes, a murderer, is an insult to those of us who yearn for peace. In Guatemala, we Guatemalans decide. #ZuryPresidente pic.twitter.com/h2c9yUEhLc
— Zury Rios (@ZuryxGuate) May 16, 2023
The Mexican president said Monday that he is "looking at the possibility" that the Guatemalan government will pardon the 83-year-old former guerrilla Montes and allow his transfer to Mexico. Montes was captured by Interpol in October 2020 in Mexican territory and extradited to the Central American country, where he was sentenced to 175 years in prison for the murder of three soldiers in an indigenous community in 2019. "He is a person, a leader who is accused of some crimes, he is in prison, he is already an older person and if he is looking with Guatemala, to see the possibility of being pardoned and coming to Mexico, that he is given asylum in our country, we are already seeing it," said the president.
Rios said in another message on social media that the Mexican president's decision is "interventionist" and rejected the proposal to transfer Montes. "Your call to release a murderer convicted of killing military personnel is interventionist and incongruous," he wrote. "In our government there will be no hugs for criminals nor will we allow the intervention of defenders of murderers. In Guatemala, we Guatemalans decide," the candidate added, alluding to the motto of López Obrador's security strategy in Mexico: "Hugs, not bullets."
The events attributed to Montes, whose real name is Julio César Macías López, occurred on September 3, 2019 in a municipality in the Caribbean of Guatemala, El Estor, where a group of nine soldiers was searching for clandestine airstrips, given that the area is considered an important step for the transfer of drugs by organized crime groups. According to the official account made public by the Prosecutor's Office, the patrol was stopped and attacked by residents of the area under orders from Montes, so the former guerrilla became the most wanted man in the country by the Guatemalan authorities. Montes had fled to Mexico and was captured by Interpol in the state of Guerrero on October 10, 2020 and extradited to Guatemala, where he was subjected to the trial that ended in his 175-year sentence. During the trial, the former guerrilla pleaded not guilty and said: "If I had been there, none of the nine soldiers would leave alive. I would have eaten them fried, fasting. It wasn't me, I had nothing to do with it."
Zury Ríos is the presidential candidate for the conservative Valor Unionista coalition and has the support of conservative businessmen and former military personnel. He was leading in the polls earlier this year, but the closer he gets to the June 28 election, Rios' candidacy has been losing steam. A poll published by the newspaper Prensa Libre shows that the preferences of the electorate a month before the elections are led by the candidate of the Prosperidad Ciudadana party, Carlos Pineda, with 23% of the votes, while Ríos has fallen to fourth place, with 9.2% of the intention of votes.
The candidate is sold in networks as a "brave" and "experienced" woman to occupy the presidency. He travels the country's regions every week in search of votes, although for many Guatemalans, mainly those living in indigenous regions, his candidacy is linked to the bloody past of his father, dictator Ríos Montt, under whose leadership he ordered the devastation of entire villages after accusing their inhabitants, mostly indigenous, of supporting the guerrillas who fought against the Guatemalan army during the bloody civil war. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people were killed during the presidency of the general, who was ousted in a coup 17 months after taking office. After evading justice for decades, Ríos Montt was subjected to an oral and public trial in 2013 and was sentenced to 80 years in prison, 50 for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity. Zury Ríos has repeatedly denied that genocide had been committed in Guatemala. "Yes, they accused him, but they never proved it. He died free. Nobody showed him anything," he said in an interview with CNN. "In Guatemala there was no genocide, what we had was a war," he added.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and Twitter, or in our weekly newsletter.