RELEASED! AZ Mom Jailed in Sonora on Drug Trafficking Charges

Borderland Beat
Yanira Maldonado was released late Thursday.  Her husband Gary drove to Nogales to pick up his wife.

Video proves the Maldonado's carried only water and blankets onto the bus

"I always told people, go to Mexico, it is not true what they are saying"

 

5.30.13 PM Update:

 

The husband of Yanira stated in a video interview he is confident the charges will be dropped after court officials reviewed video Thursday that showed the couple boarding a bus with only blankets and bottles of water.  This is exactly what Yanira hoped authorities would do, to review the video footage that she maintained would prove her innocence.

Gary Maldonado said the video should exonerate he and his wife, and end the nightmare scenario that has prompted outrage in the U.S. among politicians and resulted in the Arizona family, fighting against a judicial system that is permeated with corruption.

"It showed exactly what I hoped it would show, what we brought on this bus," Gary Maldonado said after the court hearing Thursday. "The nightmare is not over yet, but having this evidence here, that was key to get that evidence, the witnesses, and the bus video to prove she is innocent."

The incident has sparked a movement in Arizona calling for a travel to Mexico boycott, I understand emotions are high, and I have supported Yanira's innocence from the start, it simply smacked of a set up.  However, I can't support a boycott asking an entire nation of people to join a boycott that affects another nation in a  knee jerk reaction because of one wrongly accused US citizen.   That will result in zero productivity.

 

It is a sad point of reality that the Phoenix protestors couldn't have been moved to action from the many tragedies occurring  in Mexico, to Mexicans, migrants and 3 members of a Texas family, one a Marine who served the United States nation proudly. 

 

6 million Americans visit Mexico each year, 1 million plus Americans live in Mexico, each year there are an average of 100-130 murders of Americans.  The  murders are quantified in a catch all category which does not define if a murder is a crime of passion versus narco violence, but that is about 2.1 per 100k capita.

 

As an comparitive, lets take Orlando Florida, the home of Disney World and many other famous tourist destinations.  Orlando has a rate 7.5 homicides per 100k.  Be proactive, discover yourself how Houston, Stl, Chicago, Washington DC and other tourist cities stack up with places in Mexico such as Cabo, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta. 

 

Blanket statements are irresponsible, and clearly I am not contending that Mexico is without concerns, and make that major concerns in some areas, but even the state department travel warning list includes a small portion of Mexico on the list.  Be informed, check updated info and as anyplace one may travel, Hong Kong, Mexico City, or Orlando Florida, educated yourself before travelling.





5.30.13 Update:

In a tearful  television interview with CNN, from the Nogales, Sonora prison she is presently incarcerated in, a distraught Yanira Maldonado unequivocally declared her innocence of the drug charges pending against her.

 

She explained that she and her husband were returning to Arizona when federal agents stopped the bus and ordered everyone off.  Almost immediately they singled out Maldonado and her husband for interrogation, which resulted in her arrest under the suspicion of drug trafficking 12 pounds of marijuana supposedly stashed under her seat.

 

Maldonado says the investigation has not advanced and she pointed out that there are security cameras in the terminal that would prove her innocence, however Mexican authorities have not viewed the footage.  She stressed that fingerprint analysis also has not been conducted that would also prove her innocence.

 

There will be a hearing tomorrow to determine if the mother will be charged or set free.

 

The mother of seven children stated that she has always defended travel to Mexico, something she and her family does once a year to visit family in Sonora, "I always told people, go to Mexico, it is not true what they are saying".

 

5.29.13 Update:

Today's hearing resulted  in a "no decision" finding.  Witnesses aboard the bus said the couple did not bring luggage onto the bus it was checked in and in the storage compartment. The family remains cautiously optimistic she will soon be released.  

Her Mexican attorney recommended the mother of 7 bribe her way out

The family of a Mormon mother from Arizona imprisoned in Mexico for the past week says she is innocent  after Mexican military personnel found 12 pounds of marijuana hidden under her bus seat while she and her husband were returning to the Phoenix area from a funeral in Mexico.

Family members believe that someone else may have been trying to smuggle the marijuana and that Yanira Maldonado just happened to be sitting in the seat where the drugs were hidden.

"We feel we have a strong case," said Larry Maldonado, Yanira's father-in-law.

Yanira, from Goodyear, Ariz., was returning to the Valley with her husband, Gary Maldonado, on May 22, when they passed through a military checkpoint near Hermosillo, Mexico, and the drugs were found. She has been trying to prove her innocence ever since. She is being held in a prison in Nogales, Sonora, Larry Maldonado said.

A federal judge in Nogales listened to witnesses for several hours Tuesday, and the family hopes to know by Friday whether the case will be dismissed, he said.  Continues on next page........

Yanira and Gary married one year ago and have seven children together from previous marriages, Larry said. They are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and met at church, he added.

Yanira is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico. She works with disabled children. Gary is an American born in the U.S. He works in the information-technology field, his father said.

The case has attracted national attention since family members began publicizing Yanira's imprisonment on social media.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake also has gotten involved after family members contacted the Arizona Republican.

Flake spoke about the case with Mexico's deputy ambassador to the U.S., Mabel Gomez Oliver, on Saturday and Sunday, an official in Flake's office said. Flake also spoke with Gary Maldonado on Sunday.

Larry Maldonado said Yanira and Gary feel like they are living in a nightmare.

They left Phoenix by bus May 19 to attend a funeral for Yanira's aunt near Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa, Larry Maldonado said.

On May 22, they were headed back to Phoenix on the same Mexican bus line, when they passed through a military checkpoint near Hermosillo.

The soldiers ordered everyone off the bus and took them to a room where their luggage was X-rayed, Brandon Klippel, Gary's brother-in-law, said in an e-mail.

Yanira and Gary were the only Americans on the bus, Klippel said.

At first, the soldiers told Gary they had found the marijuana under his seat and arrested him, Klippel said. But then, police went to his cell and told him they thought the drugs had been found under his wife's seat and under an open seat on the bus and arrested her, he said.

Klippel said in the e-mail that Gary's Mexican court-appointed defense attorney suggested he try bribing Mexican authorities to have the case dismissed, telling him, "You know how it works in Mexico, right?"

Through the lawyer, Gary offered to pay Mexican authorities $3,500 and then upped the offer to $5,000 after being told the initial offer wasn't enough, Larry Maldonado said.

In the end, neither bribe was accepted, he said.

Officials at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to be interviewed about the case.

They issued a statement that said Mexico's government is in close communication with the U.S. government "to guarantee Mrs. Maldonado's right to consular assistance."

"Mrs. Maldonado's rights to a defense counsel and due process are being observed," the statement said.

A spokesman at the U.S. State Department said during a briefing Tuesday in Washington

that officials from the U.S. Consulate in Nogales had met with the Maldonados on Friday to make sure their rights were being protected.

Erik Lee, associate director at Arizona State University's North American Center for Transborder Studies, said American citizens have long complained about Mexican police asking for bribes to settle traffic violations.

But he found it unlikely that federal authorities in Mexico would try to plant drugs on American citizens for bribes because of the risk of causing an international furor that could hurt tourism, the country's major source of income.

"That is pretty high stakes," Lee said. "That goes against their economic interests."

What's more, Mexico's government in recent years has been trying to clamp down on police corruption and bribes at the state and local levels, he said.

Readers: What are your thoughts about this case?  I am certain of this woman's innocence, as certain as I can be while assessing this from the outside looking in.  What I do know is it is illogical to think a person could alone haul 12 lbs of unconcealed mota on to a public bus. 

I am aware of blind mules being used as a defense, also called "unknowing courier"  for the transportation of  drugs, people who unknowingly transfer drugs after they have been stashed somewhere on their vehicle. 

In theory I suppose this method could be successful,  but it hardly seems pragmatic method of transfer as it is so subjective.  There is a case in San Diego, California where a man is trying to use this method as a defense. 

However, in this case my money is on the bus driver being the culprit, he stashed the drug and knew if found he knew a passenger would be most likely blamed. 

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Sources: ABC and KSDK AZ Republic