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 News from Around the Americas | December 2007 
Governments Moving on Case of Jailed Canadian
 Charles Rusnell - The Vancouver Province
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| | Brenda Martin at the Puente Grande prison on Dec. 5 (Deb Tieleman) |
Edmonton - Claims that a Canadian woman jailed in Mexico for nearly two years was denied basic legal rights have sparked a dramatic response from both the Mexican and Canadian governments.
With a government camera crew in tow, Mexico's ambassador to Canada, Emilio Goicoechea Luna, arrived unannounced Wednesday at a Guadalajara prison to interview Brenda Martin about her case.
That same day, a senior official with the Canadian consul in Guadalajara told Martin that a bid by her lawyers to have her arrest and detention declared a violation of the Mexican constitution would significantly delay the resolution of her criminal case.
Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, said he believes both governments are embarrassed by what he said was Martin's illegal arrest and detention.
Cruz suggested the consul's visit was meant to pressure his client to drop her constitutional challenge of her arrest.
"The idea they had was that they want Brenda to drop [the constitutional challenge]," Cruz said from Guadalajara.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Dan McTeague, who has been working to free Martin for the past year, met Mexico's ambassador two weeks ago to talk about the case.
"I have got to give him credit," McTeague said yesterday. "He promised to personally look into Brenda Martin's case and he has kept his word. Let's hope his involvement brings an end to this unfortunate case."
McTeague sharply criticized Canadian consular officials for their advice to Martin.
"If it's true, it is unseemly for officials to effectively be telling her that she should not be insisting on her basic rights under international law," he said. "I think [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper has some explaining to do about this."
Martin, a native of Trenton, Ont., was arrested and jailed in February 2006, nearly five years after her former employer, Alyn Richard Waage of Edmonton, was arrested in what was believed to be the biggest Internet-based pyramid fraud scheme in history.
Between 1999 and 2001, from a cliff-side mansion in Puerto Vallarta, Waage pulled in about $60 million US from 15,000 victims worldwide.
Martin worked as Waage's chef and house manager for 10 months.
Four people directly involved in the scheme, including Waage, have told CanWest News Service that Martin had no involvement in or knowledge of the scheme. Waage, now serving 10 years in an American prison, also swore an affidavit before Mexican officials supporting Martin's innocence. Despite this, Martin was arrested and charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy. |
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