Below is an op-ed/Letter to the Editor I wrote a few years ago when Rep. Weller was running for re-election and was engaged to Zury Rios Sosa. While I do not live in consituency, I held some strong opinions on why he should not serve in the US Congress - opinions that have nothing to do with his politics. As I recall, about three or four papers in Iliinois printed this at that time, though obviously he was stil re-elected. My opinions on him serving have not changed, so that is why I am posting this.
When Rep. Weller asked Zury Sosa Rios to marry him, I’m sure he anticipated a firestorm of press coverage. After all, no matter how well his official press release sugar coated the Rios Montt family, the history books are far more sour. But if I were Rep. Weller, I’d be happy as can be right now because the little attention there has been has missed what should have been raised as the main issue with this wedding.
There are thousands of Guatemalans currently living in the United States. Many, if not most, of these people came to this country in order to escape the genocide that was the Guatemalan Civil War. In short, they came to escape the threat and legacy of Efraim Rios Montt and the other dictators who slaughtered and uprooted the country’s majority indigenous population. Zury Sosa Rios has never distanced herself from her father. To the contrary, she has supported him strongly over the years.
So now you have Zury Rios Sosa marrying a member of the United States House of Representatives. What does that mean to a Guatemalan American who narrowly escaped Montt’s terror? What does this marriage symbolize? We can easily analogize how Sept. 11 families would feel if a U.S. Rep. married a daughter of Osama bin Laden. Or how would the Jewish population react if a representative married the daughter of a Hamas leader while being actively involved in his organization?
Rep. Weller can marry whomever he wants. I have no right to tell him otherwise. But he is a public servant and a “representative” of the American people. His constituents do not condone genocide or those that have engaged in or supported it. It was President Bush who said that those who harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves. So in that regard, Representative Weller has the obligation to leave office if he wishes to marry the daughter of a terrorist. Otherwise, his party and his President are nothing more hypocrites sending a horrible message to the survivors of one the worst tragedies of the last 50 years.
Couldn't have said it better myself! And let's close the SOA while we are at it.
Posted by: Lisa G at September 10, 2007 03:35 AMWhat did it symbolize? Their marriage made official a relationship that has unfortunately existed between the two countries. Very symbolic, indeed.
Great letter Kevin.
Don't know who you are, Kevin, but so far I've loved your politics. So many of us waiting for our adoptions to conclude are afraid to get political because it might harm our cases, so I thank you for speaking out for those who can't speak, for one reason or another.
Posted by: reba at September 10, 2007 11:40 PM