The Mexican Ambassador to the US dashed hopes for a pre-Christmas release of jailed Marine, Jon Hammar, today. Fox News reported that his two page letter to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) left little hope of a diplomatic solution.
“As you know well, Mexico has had very stringent gun-control laws in place for many years, and have reinforced their application as a result of the flow of weapons illicitly purchased in the U.S. and then trafficked into Mexico and into the hands of transnational criminal organizations,” Sarukhan wrote.Hammar has been stuck in a notorious, drug cartel-controlled prison just 15 miles south of the U.S. border since Aug. 13, after he crossed into Mexico and declared an antique shotgun to Mexican customs officials.
Sarukhan failed to mention that Tamaulipas, the state which the CEDES prison in Matamoros is located, is controlled by the Los Zetas Cartel, arguably the most vicious of the cartels.
Hammar’s father said the letter is fraught with statements at odds with what he knows and what his son has told him.
“There are huge inaccuracies about what is happening in their system,” Jon Hammar Sr., said.
Sarukhan said Hammar was arrested for possession of a weapon that, according to Mexican law, is restricted for the exclusive use of the Mexican Armed Forces.
But high-ranking Mexican military officials have told Hammar’s attorney, Eddie Varon-Levy, that the gun Hammar tried to declare shortly after crossing into Mexico on his way to Costa Rica is not the type of firearm the laws are meant to block. The gun Hammar claims he also declared to U.S. Customs and border protection is a .410 gauge antique Sears Roebuck shotgun.
But Mexico’s top diplomat to the U.S. said the letter of the law must be followed.
“Regardless of what he may have declared or stated to CBP agents and then to Mexican Customs authorities, the sole introduction or possession of this type of weapon (not withstanding its intended use or year of manufacture) in Mexican territory constitutes a federal crime in Mexico and is not subject to any prosecutorial discretion,” Sarukhan said.
Varon-Levy disagreed, saying no one can make the argument the antique, small-gauge shotgun is anything resembling a military weapon. He said the prosecutor and his team can’t even agree on specifics of the rifle.
Perhaps the biggest bone of contention Hammar’s family and legal team have with Sarukhan is the ambassador’s pledge that Hammar will be held “in conditions that ensure his well-being and his rights.” Already, Hammar, who suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been denied an interpreter at court appearances, had his life threatened and has been chained to a steel bed.
Two days after his arrest, Hammar’s parents received a midnight extortion attempt by a male caller who said he “owned” the prison, giving credence to speculation that the criminal elements control CEDES prison.
If the Ambassador is peeved about all the guns flowing South from American gun stores, his beef is with Attorney General Eric Holder and Barack Obama for Fast and Furious – not some innocent Marine, traveling with an antique shotgun.
It’s interesting that the Obama administration wants to “respect’ Mexico’s sovereignty on this matter, since Obama administration officials allowed thousands of guns to flow across the border into the hands of vicious drug cartel murderers, without telling the Mexican government. You would think their respect for Mexico’s sovereignty was already kinda low.
Kelly went on to interview Richard Grenell, the former spokesman for four US Ambassadors to the UN, who argued the Obama administration should be doing more to fight for this Marine’s release.
The White House petition for the Obama administration to press for Hammar’s release has surpassed the 25,000 mark which (is supposed to ) guarantee that it will receive a response.
SEE ALSO:
The Shark Tank: Allen West Calls for Americans to Boycott Travel to Mexico
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Nice Deb 
I hope this story is kept alive. None of us can expect our elected representatives to go the extra mile or even do simply the right thing until they perceive potential blowback during their next election cycle.
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Fox just reported that a Mexican Judge has ordered his immediate release.
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Keeping this poor dude behind bars is a winner for the administration. If a court trial were set, it’s not inconceivable that information from the Mexican government could be made public about what they know about F&F, which would necessarily be a bad thing for Mr. My People and Co.
Considering that, my guess is that it’s the U.S.government putting extreme pressure on the Mexicans to keep this guy locked up.
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All righty now, problem solved for Mr. My People and He-Who-Walks-On-Water! No trial where bad (for the U.S. government) information gets out, the U.S. and Mexican governments can make nice for a day or two, and the next time some children or women or elderly brown people in Mexico are killed with a F&F weapon the US can wring its collective hands again and wonder what to do about all that violence down there…
Well, don’t you worry your little punkin head, Mr. My People – with any luck they won’t start appearing in this country until after you’ve left your office, and with REAL luck not until after He-Who-Walks-On-Water finishes his second term.
But know this: They will start appearing at crime scenes in this country, and there are enough conservative Republicans (which, of course, discounts any of the Republican “leadership”) who aren’t gonna let that sleeping dog lie, and that news will eventually be impossible for the LSM to ignore.
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