hope! there is hope! about family, prejudice and the congress...

I must admit I had a rather negative prejudice on Congresswoman (for twelve years now) Zury Ríos-Montt de Weller.

Daughter of General Efraín Ríos-Montt, who governed in the early 80's and is responsible for some of the worst Human Rights violations committed by the State of Guatemala in the whole Internal Conflict (1960-1996), I had an issue with her being in guatemalan politics for so long, and with her being a politian in all. I felt that it was, somehow, wrong. I felt she had no right to, after all that her father had done.

I met her yesterday. She really impressed me. She came to my International Law class to talk about Parliamentary Diplomacy, since she studied, amongst other things, International Relations and has been in the Foreign Policy Commission of the Congress several times. She is very well prepared, she has studied hard and had a lot of experience. She proved to me she knows how to do her job and how to win people over. Before I realized it, I was smiling at her.

This experience definitely opened my eyes to how easy it is to judge and make assumptions about people without even bothering to look a little deeper. She's in no means impeccable, but at least now I know for myself that she's a passionate and dedicated woman with dreams, hopes and love for her country, just like me!




Congresswoman Zury Ríos-Montt de Weller, me and Congressman Mario López Girón