Bishop Stood Up to Genocide Perpetrated by His Infamous Relative
The brother of a notorious Guatemalan general who carried out genocide, Bishop Mario Ríos Montt, died at 94. He bravely spoke out against his sibling's crimes despite familial ties.
Bishop Mario Ríos Montt, a prominent Catholic figure in Guatemala who spoke out against the human rights abuses of his infamous brother, the former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, died on March 27 at a hospital in Guatemala City. He was 94.
The cause was respiratory failure, said his niece Patricia Ríos Montt, who confirmed his death.
As bishop of the Diocese of Santa Cruz del Quiché in central Guatemala, Bishop Ríos Montt was a courageous voice against the atrocities committed by his brother's military regime in the early 1980s. While their family ties could have silenced him, the bishop instead chose to speak out forcefully against the genocide perpetrated under his brother's command.
{{IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER}}In 1999, at a news conference about human rights abuses, Bishop Ríos Montt declared,
Source: The New York Times
