|
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2008 
Mexico Blames Delays on Brenda Martin
 Charles Rusnell - Canwest News
go to original
| | Recent undated photo of Liberal consular affairs critic Dan McTeague (L) with Brenda Martin inside the Puente Grande Women's Prison in Guadalajara, Mexico. | | |
The Mexican Embassy issued a statement late Thursday blaming Brenda Martin herself for delays in the jailed Canadian's trial.
"Brenda Kim Martin has chosen to change legal teams for her defence on several occasions," reads the statement on the embassy's Web site. "Consequently, she has been successively represented by different legal teams - a decision taken by Ms. Martin that has significantly contributed to the delay in her trial."
The statement came out hours after Liberal Leader Stephane Dion challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to show he will stand up for Canadians by demanding action in the case of Ms. Martin, who has been held in a Mexican prison without trial for more than two years.
"The Harper government has been far too passive in handling this case," Mr. Dion said Thursday in a news release.
"It is my hope that the visit by Conservative MPs Jason Kenney and Rick Norlock was not simply a photo-op to limit the political damage to Conservatives from the public outrage over Brenda Martin's predicament. It's time for this government to show some leadership and demand action on this file."
Ms. Martin is desperate to be released from prison in Guadalajara. She has repeatedly threatened to kill herself if she is not soon set free, and her hysterical sobbing and pleas for help have echoed across Canadian news reports for weeks.
Liberal consular services critic Dan McTeague said Mr. Harper and his office have left the mistaken impression with Canadians that the prime minister called Mexican president Felipe Calderon about the case of the 51-year-old native of Trenton, Ont.
But according to a news release from the Mexican embassy Monday, it was Mr. Calderon who called Mr. Harper in a previously scheduled call.
The release made no mention of a discussion about Ms. Martin.
The prime minister's office has refused to confirm or deny whether Mr. Harper raised Ms. Martin's detention with the Mexican leader.
"This leaves Canadians questioning the true level of Mr. Harper's personal involvement in this matter and in bringing Ms. Martin's case front and centre to the Mexican president," Mr. McTeague said.
Mr. McTeague and Ms. Martin's supporters have repeatedly called on Mr. Harper to personally intervene with Mr. Calderon and request Ms. Martin's expulsion because of what they call many violations of her legal and human rights under Mexican and international law.
Ms. Martin said Thursday she can't understand why the Mexicans won't just let her go.
"I am a nobody," she said in a telephone interview from prison.
"Nobody in Mexico even knows who I am. Nobody would be offended if I was released. Send me home and relations between Canada and Mexico can go back to normal."
"Right now there is so much negative publicity for Mexico, and for what? For a 51-year-old woman who allegedly received $26,000 illegally? [Someone] has to put this in perspective and simply let me go."
Mr. Harper has said he can't intervene as both Canada and Mexico have independent judiciaries.
MR. Dion said that excuse doesn't wash.
"How, then, can he say that Canada will intervene with Saudi Arabia to spare the life of Mr. Kohail? How is it also possible for Canada to have legal assistance treaties with other countries - including Mexico?" he said.
Mohamed Kohail, 23, of Montreal was sentenced in Saudi Arabia earlier this month to be executed - by having his head cut off with a sword - after a school yard altercation that resulted in the death of another man.
Ms. Martin was employed as a chef for a former Alberta resident, Alyn Richard Waage, in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months in 2001.
Waage was operating an Internet fraud scheme at the time, while he pretended to be an investor. He was eventually arrested and is serving a 10-year sentence in a U.S. jail.
Five years after Waage's arrest, Ms. Martin was charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy.
Although Waage has provided a sworn affidavit stating Ms. Martin had no involvement or knowledge of his operations, she has remained in jail since Feb. 17, 2006.
The Liberal leader's call to action comes a day after Mr. Harper dispatched MP Jason Kenney, the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, to Mexico to meet with Mexican officials and with Ms. Martin.
Ms. Martin's supporters, including her mother, had slammed the trip as nothing more than a photo opportunity for Kenney and Ontario MP Rick Norlock, who has been criticized for failing to help either Martin or her mother, one of Norlock's constituents.
But Debra Tieleman, a childhood friend of Ms. Martin's who has led the public campaign to free her, said Mr. Kenney seems to be the first Conservative who is truly committed to getting Ms. Martin out of prison as quickly as possible. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us