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 News from Around the Americas | February 2008 
Minister Presses Jailed Woman's Case in Mexico
 Charles Rusnell - Edmonton Journal
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| | Brenda Martin in February 2006 | | |
Edmonton - Federal cabinet minister Helena Guergis flew to Mexico earlier this week for a series of top-level meetings with government officials to try to expedite the release of a Canadian woman imprisoned without trial for nearly two years.
Guergis, the secretary of state for foreign affairs and international trade, pressed Mexican officials to rule immediately on the case of former Trenton, Ont., native Brenda Martin.
Senior Canadian officials also told the Mexicans that Canada would be prepared to immediately accept Martin if she were extradited.
"What we demanded is that justice be served," said Jeffrey Kroeker, the spokesman for Guergis, who was not available for comment Thursday.
Guergis met with Mexican attorney general Eduardo Medina Mora and foreign minister Patricia Espinosa in Mexico City on Monday and with state officials in Guadalajara on Tuesday, Kroeker said.
Guergis's diplomatic trip follows weeks of negative publicity in which Martin's supporters and Liberal foreign affairs critic Dan McTeague hammered the minister, who recently assumed responsibility for consular affairs, for failing to ensure Martin's legal and human rights were respected.
Martin's case has been championed by Deb Tieleman, an old friend of Martin. Tieleman has travelled to Guadalajara several times to visit Martin in prison and was there earlier this week.
Tieleman said Guergis should have visited Martin in prison.
"It would have helped Brenda if she heard from the minister's own mouth what she is doing for her," Tieleman said.
McTeague said that when he was responsible for consular affairs, he made a point of travelling to meet jailed Canadians to see first-hand how they were being treated and to ensure their rights were being respected.
"The reason the minister went there is because she has been embarrassed by the public and the media reaction to her lack of action in this case," McTeague said Thursday.
Martin, 51, has been imprisoned in Guadalajara since February 2006, charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy. She had been living in Puerto Vallarta for several years before she was hired in 2000 as a chef and house manager by former Edmontonian Alyn Waage.
Between 1999 and 2001, Waage operated what is believed to be the largest Internet-based pyramid fraud in history, bilking about 15,000 investors worldwide out of about $60 million.
Since her arrest, Martin has professed her innocence and Waage has sworn an affidavit confirming his former employee had no knowledge of the scheme.
Martin's Toronto lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, said a review of the legal file showed consulate officials were notified of Martin's incarceration on Feb. 18, 2006, but it was not until Dec. 14, 2007, that a representative made official inquiries to the Mexican court about her legal status.
Cruz found that Martin's legal rights under both Mexican and international law were violated because she was never provided with a proper translator during the investigation or the legal process.
She gave two voluntary statements without benefit of either a lawyer or a qualified interpreter, and those statements were subsequently used to support her arrest.
Based on those violations, Cruz has applied to have the charges against Martin thrown out. The case was heard Jan. 7 and Guergis pressed the Mexicans for a speedy resolution of the case.
Tieleman wonders why it took the Conservative government nearly two years before it finally started seriously pressing Martin's case.
Kroeker said Guergis was on a very tight schedule during her Mexican trip and decided her time would be better spent meeting with as many officials as possible who could expedite Martin's release.
"We will continue at every opportunity to advance Ms. Martin's case until such time as her case is satisfactorily resolved," he said.
crusnell(at)thejournal.canwest.com |
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