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 News from Around the Americas | March 2008 
Harper Urged to Intervene in Martin Case
 Charles Rusnell - CanWest News Service
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Supporters of a Canadian woman imprisoned in Mexico for more than two years without trial are calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene in her case.
Numerous attempts by Helena Guergis, Canada's secretary of state for consular affairs, to force Mexican authorities to expedite the case of Brenda Martin have so far produced no results. As her case has dragged on with no apparent end in sight, Martin's mental state has deteriorated. On Sunday, Martin, who is suicidal, was moved to a prison hospital in Guadalajara and placed under 24-hour guard.
"Clearly the efforts made by Helena Guergis have been ineffective," said Deb Tieleman, a childhood friend of Martin's who has led the public campaign to win her freedom.
"We need the prime minister to take direct action with the Mexicans because if Guergis has done everything as firmly as she claims, the Mexicans are obviously not taking her seriously."
"Brenda's life is at stake now and it's time that Prime Minister Harper steps in and sends a diplomatic note of protest to Mexico based on the violation of Brenda's rights under international law. She needs to be released now."
Martin, 51, is now heavily sedated, added Tieleman.
"I spoke to her on the phone and she sounded like a zombie, like she wasn't there," she said.
A Feb. 22 e-mail, obtained by the Edmonton Journal, shows Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa had promised Guergis a decision on Martin's case would be rendered Friday. Canada had been assured there was a two-month deadline, which was Friday, for issuing the ruling.
But, as it turned out, Mexico's courts were closed on Friday for a holiday.
"How on top of this file is Guergis if her office didn't even know that the courts were closed Friday?" Tieleman said.
Tieleman, and Liberal consular services critic Dan McTeague have repeatedly called on Guergis to issue a diplomatic note demanding Martin's release due to breaches of her legal and human rights. Guergis told Global National Friday that a number of diplomatic notes had already been sent to Mexico.
McTeague doesn't believe Guergis understands what constitutes a formal diplomatic note.
"I met with the Mexican ambassador last week and he was unaware of any diplomatic notes and he would be," McTeague said.
Guergis also told Global National she is prepared to return to Mexico to put more pressure on Mexican authorities to expedite Martin's case. She travelled to Mexico City and Guadalajara in January for a series of meetings with officials, including that country's foreign minister and attorney general.
Martin, a former native of Trenton, Ont. was employed as a chef by a former Albertan, Alyn Waage, in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months in 2001. Posing as a successful businessman, Waage was actually operating what is believed to the be one of the largest Internet based fraud scheme in history. He bilked 15,000 investors worldwide out of about $60 million.
Waage was eventually arrested and is serving a 10-year sentence in an American prison. Five years after Waage's arrest, Martin was picked up by Mexican police and charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy. Although Waage provided a sworn affidavit stating that Martin had no involvement in, or knowledge of, the scheme she has remained in jail since Feb. 17, 2006.
Martin's new lawyers from Canada say there is no evidence in the court record to support the charges and they say her rights under Mexican and international law were violated because she was never provided with a proper translator.
In an interview late Saturday, Martin said she had been assessed by a psychiatrist at the request of the prison warden. She said the psychiatrist recommended she be hospitalized.
"I can't deal with this anymore," Martin said. "I don't want to live anymore."
Tieleman spoke with the Mexican ambassador last week. He told her there is a federal prosecutor in Guadalajara who will not let go of the case.
"The government needs to issue a strong diplomatic note so Brenda's case is taken out of the courts and made a political issue. If they don't, she will die in that prison and she is innocent." |
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