Obama Silent as Mexico Jails Former Marine on Trumped-Up Gun Charge

Obama Silent as Mexico Jails Former Marine on Trumped-Up Gun Charge

http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver...JohnHammar.jpg

breitbart.com
by Tony Lee
9 Dec 2012

A former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has been chained to a bed in a Mexican prison since August. Jon Hammar faces up to 12 years in a Mexican jail on what may be a trumped-up charge of possessing an illegal shotgun. Customs officials had already cleared the shotgun before he entered Mexico.

On August 23, Hammar and his friend Ian McDonough were en route to Costa Rica on a surfing vacation when they ran into trouble after crossing the Mexican border.

According to McClatchy newspapers, Hammer brought “a six-decade-old shotgun into Mexico,” which his mother referred to as a “glorified BB gun,” that was passed down to him by his grandfather.
McDonough said the Customs and Border Protection Agent said, “All you have to do is register” the gun, and gave them a registration paper to give to the Mexican authorities.

When Hammar gave the registration form to the Mexican agents, he and McDonough were immediately taken into custody and Mexican prosecutors looked at the “disassembled relic in the 1972 Winnebago motor home” and “dismissed the U.S. registration papers Hammar had filled out,” charging Hammar with the serious crime of “possession of a weapon restricted for use to Mexico’s armed forces”:

Curiously, it wasn’t the type of shotgun that broke Mexican law. It was the length of the barrel, which the formal citation said was shorter than 25 inches, although a discrepancy has emerged over how the barrel was measured.

It is worth noting Mexico’s gangs “routinely wield AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, high-powered .50-caliber sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other potent weaponry," and Hammar's shotgun is rendered useless against such high-powered weapons.

The Mexican lawyer representing Hammar said he faces three to 12 years in a Mexican federal prison if convicted on the gun charge. Mexican authorities released McDonough, Hammar's friends, who was able to walk back to Texas, most likely because he had been living part-time in Argentina.

Marine Sgt. James Garcia served with Hammar in various combat situations and said he was heartbroken because Hammar was “one of the best we had.” According to McClatchy, Hammer, now 27 years of age, “joined the Marines and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq before receiving an honorable discharge in 2007, serving another four years in inactive reserve.”

After Hammar was sent to a state prison in Matamoros, his parents in Florida received phone calls demanding $1,800.

According to McClatchy, Hammar’s family did not pay the extortion and contacted U.S. diplomats, who got Hammar into solitary confinement and out of the wing controlled by a Mexican drug cartel.

This is not the first time Mexican authorities have captured an American on dubious gun-related charges. Mexican officials arrested a Dallas truck driver in April, "carrying 25,000 pounds of ammunition in his 18-wheeler," after Customs and Border Protection agents instructed him to briefly cross the border to make a U-turn. Mexican prosecutors "charged him with crimes that could have brought more than 25 years in prison" but -- after Congressional intervention -- they ultimately released the truck driver (Jabin Bogan) on November 23.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who is the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Hammars' Congresswoman, said she would do her best to help the Hammar family get their son back from Mexican authorities.

“His family has described a very disturbing situation that includes their son being chained to a bed in a very small cell and receiving calls from fellow inmates threatening his life if they did not send them money,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “The family also says that the jail where their son is being held is controlled by the dreaded and brutal Zetas drug cartel. The family wants their son back home, and I will do my best to help them."

Garcia, who served with Hammar, emphasized how the United States should not leave one of its own behind.

“He doesn’t deserve this,” Garcia told McClatchy. “We never leave a brother behind. We never leave a Marine behind. We have to do something.”

Obama Silent as Mexico Jails Former Marine on Trumped-Up Gun Charge

ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content/obama-s...n-charge-1187/

More on this ...

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So far, Hammar’s parents have gotten little help from U.S. diplomats.

“They take a real hands-off approach. Unless your life is at threat, they aren’t going to do anything,” Olivia Hammar said.

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Once Hammar was sent to a state prison in Matamoros, mixed in with the general inmate population, late-night phone calls began to his parents in Palmetto Bay, Fla.

“They said, ‘I have your son. We need money.’ I said, ‘I’m going to call the (U.S.) consulate.’ They said, ‘The consulate can’t help you.’ Then they put him on the phone. He said, ‘Mom, you need to pay them,’ ” Olivia Hammar recalled.

Over subsequent calls, the extortionists offered a Western Union account number and demanded an initial payment of $1,800.

Frantic, the Hammars contacted U.S. diplomats, who helped get their son out of a general cellblock into solitary confinement. They didn’t pay the extortion. Nor did they speak to the news media until now.

“He was housed in a wing controlled by the drug cartel,” said Eddie Varon-Levy, a Mexican lawyer hired by the family.

Varon-Levy said that Hammar, if convicted, could receive a sentence of anywhere from three to 12 years in a federal prison.

Making matters worse is the nature of Hammar’s confinement, a matter that’s drawn the attention of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Hammars’ local representative.

“His family has described a very disturbing situation that includes their son being chained to a bed in a very small cell and receiving calls from fellow inmates threatening his life if they did not send them money,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “The family also says that the jail where their son is being held is controlled by the dreaded and brutal Zetas drug cartel. The family wants their son back home, and I will do my best to help them."

For all the toughness instilled by the Marine Corps, friends say Hammar is a gentle soul.

“Hammar doesn’t take meds. Hammar doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink. Hammar doesn’t do any of that. He surfs,” McDonough said. “If you meet Hammar, you have to like him. He’s always there for you. If you need something, he’ll literally give you everything.”

So far, Hammar’s parents have gotten little help from U.S. diplomats.

“They take a real hands-off approach. Unless your life is at threat, they aren’t going to do anything,” Olivia Hammar said.

For Garcia and dozens of other Marines who’ve learned of Hammar’s plight, it’s hardly conceivable not to take action.

“He doesn’t deserve this,” Garcia said. “We never leave a brother behind. We never leave a Marine behind. We have to do something.”

Read more here: Latest hell for ex-U.S. Marine: Chained to bed in Mexican jail | McClatchy

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“His family has described a very disturbing situation that includes their son being chained to a bed in a very small cell and receiving calls from fellow inmates threatening his life if they did not send them money,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “The family also says that the jail where their son is being held is controlled by the dreaded and brutal Zetas drug cartel. The family wants their son back home, and I will do my best to help them."

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Everything in Mexico seems to be run by the cartels. Mexico is, in my pinion, is nothing but a banana republic with the government elite being propped up by the US.

Where is the State Department to make a complaint to the almighty UN over the violation of this man's human rights ? It sounds to me that as though he is being treated worse than an animal by the corrupt Mexican government. they demand that they citizens be detained in resorts in the US. scummy,scummy,scummy and worthless politician. JMO

This is racist yet Mexico screams racism and human rights abuse in order to get their ILLEGALS here for the money.

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he described as an apparent desire to "make an example out of the gringo."

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Parents of ex-U.S. Marine jailed in Mexico say he's losing hope

By Tom Brown | Reuters – Mon, Dec 10, 2012

• http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/pBw...O-PRISONER.JPGEnlarge Photo
• Jon Hammar, a former U.S. Marine …

MIAMI (Reuters) - The mother of a former U.S. Marine jailed in a notoriously violent corner of northern Mexico said on Monday that her son was losing hope after being arrested in August for possessing a shotgun that was a family heirloom.

Jon Hammar, 27, was heading to Costa Rica to go surfing when he crossed into Matamoros, Mexico, from Brownsville, Texas, in a beat-up old Winnebago motor home he and a friend bought especially for the trip.

He had registered the shotgun with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on the U.S. side of the border, declaring he planned to take it with him into Mexico.

Despite being told that the shotgun, a Sear & Roebuck model that once belonged to his great-grandfather, posed no problem Hammarwas arrested as soon as he crossed into Mexico. The arrest came when he tried to register the gun with Mexican customs officials, his parents and their Mexican attorney told Reuters.

"The crux of it is the length of the barrel," said his mother, Olivia Hammar, 46, of Palmetto Bay, Florida. "There's an old law on the books that says it can't be under 25 inches," she said. "It's a 2-foot barrel and it can't be under 25 inches ... . It's strictly a technicality."

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said Hammar was charged with possession of a deadly weapon. And the family lawyer, Eddie Varon-Levy, said Hammar faces up to 12 years in prison if he is found guilty.

Making matters worse, Hammar suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from the death of a fellow Marine who was killed by a sniper's bullet when the two served together in Falluja, Iraq. He had just completed treatment for PTSD at a center for veterans in California last year, before getting caught up in his misadventure in Matamoros.

His ordeal there, in one of the most violent corners of Mexico, has included being shackled to a bed and receiving death threats and extortion demands from drug cartel gangsters who run the prison known as CEDES in Matamoros like their personal fiefdom, Hammar's parents say.

"He's getting more and more hopeless," said Olivia Hammar, who is the publisher of an architecture and interior design magazine.

'AN OUTRAGEOUS CASE'

He was isolated from the general population of the prison, at the request of U.S. Consular officials, after his parents received late-night phone calls saying he would be killed if they failed to make $1,400 payments into a Western Union account to ensure his safety.

"This is just an outrageous case," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee and considers Hammar "a hero" because of his combat duty.

"If the parents had not told me about it, and his friends had not gotten involved, I would say that it was just not possible for someone to be in so much trouble for doing the right thing," Ros-Lehtinen said.

She added Hammar had been "denied his most fundamental rights" in Mexico and urged the State Department to take a much more active role in his case.

The family lawyer, Varon-Levy, said he hoped the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office December 1, would help clear the way for Hammar's speedy release after mismanagement of the case under the previous Mexican administration and what he described as an apparent desire to "make an example out of the gringo."

He said he hoped the case could be resolved before Hammar's next court date, a hearing set for January 17.

"We just don't understand how it's possible in a modern global world that we can have a neighbor so close that we're so far away from," said his father, Jon Hammar Sr.
Parents of ex-U.S. Marine jailed in Mexico say he's losing hope - Yahoo! News

This makes my blood boil. Where is our State Department? Hello.....anyone in our government hear about this American hero being held down there in that corrupt country? And this has been going on since August??? Infuriating!

Related ..

Extortion call, somber visit bring nightmare home for parents of Marine jailed in Mexico

Parents fight for release of Marine veteran son jailed in Mexico

Published December 11, 2012


AP



MIAMI – An American family is fighting to get their son, a Marine veteran, released from a prison in a dangerous area in Mexico while facing charges that he carried across the border a shotgun with barrel that's an inch too short.


Jon Hammar and his friend were on their way to Costa Rica in August and planned to drive across the Mexican border near Matamoros in a recreational vehicle filled with surfboards and camping gear. Hammar, 27, asked U.S. border agents what to do with the unloaded shotgun, which his family said belonged to his great-grandfather.


"They examined it, they weighed it, they said you have to fill out this form," his father, Jon Hammar, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday from his home near Miami.


But when the pair crossed the border and handed the paperwork to Mexican officials, they impounded the vehicle and jailed the men, saying it was illegal to carry that type of gun. Hammar's friend was later released because the gun did not belong to him.


The family's attorney said Mexican law prohibits civilians from carrying certain types of guns, like sawed-off shotguns, which can be more easily concealed. Mexican law prohibits shotguns with a barrel of less than 25 inches (63.5 centimeters). Family attorney Eddie Varon-Levy said Mexican officials measured the barrel on Hammar's shotgun as 24 inches. It has not been sawed off.


Family members said the gun was purchased at Sears and blamed U.S. officials for telling Hammar he could bring it across the border in the first place.


Varon-Levy also questioned the way Mexican officials measured the gun, because the measurements can differ depending on where they are taken on the barrel.


He said dealing with Mexican authorities has also been difficult. He said Hammar was brought to court a few weeks ago, where officials tried to convince him to plead guilty without a lawyer present. Varon-Levy said he was never notified of the court date.
"I am fuming," he said.


Hammar could face 12 years in prison, but Varon-Levy said that's unlikely. He wants to get the charges downgraded, hoping Hammar can plead guilty to a lesser charge of carrying an unregistered weapon, which only carries a fine.


A call to the Mexican embassy in the U.S. was not immediately returned Tuesday.


Meanwhile, Hammar is being held in one of the most dangerous areas in Mexico.


Matamoros is the long-time headquarters of the Gulf Cartel, which has been engaged in a bloody struggle with its former security guards, the Zetas, since early 2010 for the lucrative drug routes along the eastern end of the Texas-Mexico border. An October 2011 fight among inmates at the prison left 20 dead and 12 injured.


At first Hammar was held with the general population, filled mostly with members of drug cartels. Now he is periodically chained to his bed in a cell by himself, said his father, he speaks with his son by phone occasionally.


"Sometimes he's got his head on good. We're like just, `Hang in there. We're doing everything we can.' Other days, it's like, it's not as good," Jon Hammar said, sighing heavily and struggling to steady his voice.


In August, the family received a frightening middle-of-the-night phone call from the cartel demanding money, said Jon Hammar, a 48-year-old software engineer.


"`Lady, this isn't about the police. This is our house. We have your son. We're gonna kill him if you don't send us money,"' Hammar said, recounting the phone call.


The couple planned to wire the money to an account, but officials at the U.S. consulate intervened and contacted prison officials. His son was moved into a private cell the next day, he said.


U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the State Department must work incessantly to reunite Hammar with his family and said she's disappointed the agency has not told her what efforts have been made.


The Miami Republican said she plans to contact the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol about Hammar's arrest. His mother emailed Ros-Lehtinen and asked for help.


"The Hammar family has suffered a great deal since their son's unjust incarceration in August and the details they have provided to my office are gripping and a clear abuse of Jon's human rights," she said in a statement.


The State Department did not return a call seeking comment.




Read more: Parents fight for release of Marine veteran son jailed in Mexico | Fox News

Time to start kicking out Mexican consulates and citizens and deporting all of Mexico's criminals that are in US prisons immediately..JMO

John and Ken from AM640 have been all over this issue also. They have a petition to sign at a whitehouse website if it hasn't been mentioned before and if anyone is interested.
PETITION TO HELP BRING JON HAMMAR HOME | John and Ken - KFI AM 640 More Stimulating Talk Radio