By Juan MontoyaBy the time you read this, the man at right, former marine Jon Hammar, detained since August in the notorious Cartel-ridden CEDES prison, should be a free man reunited with his family in Brownsville.
The 27-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan wars veteran was taken into Mexican custody when he declared he had his great grandfather's shotgun with him when he and a friend crossed the border into Tamaulipas en route to Costa Rica where they intended to go surfing.
Both had suffered and sought treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder before they took off together for Costa Rica to forget about the horrors of war, according to statements Hammar's parents told the media.
The horror, however, was about to begin after Hammer declared the weapon to Mexican authorities in Matamoros and he was arrested on the spot and transferred to the CEDES prison outside of Matamoros to await trial for the offense which could have seen him sentenced to 15 yeasr in prison.
The vice president of the Tamaulipas Chamber of Commerce has confirmed that U.S Marine Jon Hammar is in the custody of U.S. officials.
"He's free," Gerardo Danache Acevedo, vice president of the Tamaulipas Chamber of Commerce, told The Brownsville Herald this afternoon.
Danache told the daily that he spoke personally to Mexico President Enrique Peña-Nieto over the telephone last week and told him that his organization's members had filed a petition with 14,000 signatures asking him to release the marine.
“I really, really believe the media played a big role in this. I am happy that this will happen because there is no reason we should continue with this” Acevedo Danache said in a telephone interview with the Herald.
While at the CEDES, Cartel members tried to extort $1,800 from Hammar's family in Florida by calling them on the telephone and threatening to killl him if they didn't send the money. Prison officials then separated him from the general prison population and kept him chained to his bunk in a single cell.
5 comments:
I am glad he is out, but how about all of the other gringos that wander accross the border with a gun or a little ammo and wind up in the Mexican meat grinder. They were not Marines and the conservative press doesn't give a shit about them.
Juan, Just a couple questions for you. Was there a security camera contract of about 3million dollars given to Escabedo's security firm by the port of Brownsville? If so did Arumbula vote for it, since he works for BISD and Dr. Escobedo's brother is the owner of the security firm?
Muy agradecido a los medios de comunicacion, y a todos las gentes que abogaron por el.
Para mi fue un placer abogar por alguien que estaba sufriendo, la satisfaccion que me quedo es que pude hacer algo bueno por el, como protegerlo dentro del penal y que nadie estubiera extorcionando mas a su familia, son gentes buenas eh inocentes o victimas, pero pues a si son la mayor parte de los gringos y a mi me caen muy bien los gringos :)Bendiciones a el y toda su familia y que no buelva a cometer el mismo error jamas en Mexico o en ningun otro pais.
December 21, 2012 5:58 PM
Lo que pasa es que este tubo suerte en caer a qui en Matamoros, para mi al igual que a otras personas nos fue muy facil protegerlo y ayudarlo, solo tuve que mandar una orden a mis colegas y asunto arreglado, y tenian que obedecerme por que si no se cumplia mi orden, se les arranca a ellos adentro del penal. Aqui solo les demostre lo bueno y lo malo que yo puedo ser en un tronar de dedos. Me da gusto que este gringo esta bien sobre todas las cosas.
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