Saturday, September 15, 2007

Profiles in Corruption

Yet another GOP congressman with sketchy extracurricular hobbies.

Here's my favorite detail:

In January 2002, Weller made his first government-paid trip to the region, including a stop in Nicaragua to attend the inauguration of newly elected President Enrique Bolanos. In November 2004, Weller married Zury Rios Sosa, a member of the Guatemalan Congress and the daughter of Efrain Rios Montt, a general who ruled Guatemala in 1982-83, at the height of a brutal, nearly four-decade civil war during which an estimated 200,000 people were killed.


I'm going to assume that when a newspaper says that someone "ruled" a country that they did so through means that can charitably be called undemocratic?

Affirmative:

Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most controversial figures in Guatemala. Two Truth Commissions, one sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church and the other conducted by the government as part of the 1996 Peace Accords, documented widespread human rights abuses committed by Ríos Montt's military regime, including widespread massacres, rape, torture, and acts of genocide against the indigenous population. Supporters claim that he had to rule with an iron hand because the country was becoming unstable due to the civil war. Ríos Montt has, at times, had close ties to the United States who gave him aid to fight against left-wing guerrillas.

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