MIAMI LAKES, FLA. (WSVN) - The mother of the former leader of the Proud Boys expressed her frustration with his prison sentence, claiming the federal government is using the Miami native as a “political pawn.”
Speaking with 7News on Thursday afternoon, Zuny Duarte Tarrio expressed deep concerns, days after her son, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
“It’s extremely hard to see in our country that this is going on,” she said.
Tarrio was linked to plotting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power by force when President Joe Biden won the 2020 election
“We believed in our system, and that’s why we kept quiet, ’cause we believed that at the end, justice would prevail, and it has not, it has failed us,” said Duarte Tarrio.
Addressing her son’s sentence publicly for the first time, Tarrio’s mother said she wanted to raise awareness.
She called her son’s sentence hurtful and unacceptable.
“He’s a political pawn. He got the most and the highest sentencing of 22 years,” she said, “and I can’t even begin to tell you the pain that that causes.”
More than 1,100 rioters have been charged in the U.S. Capitol attack.
“We ask everyone to please analyze the situation, where someone that wasn’t even in D.C., without enough evidence in trial, for the government to just decide to throw things out there and see what sticks has not been good,” said Duarte Tarrio.
Duarte Tarrio added that she is proud of her son. His attorneys plan to appeal the sentence.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.