UPDATE on Canadian, Brenda Martin…read all about it.. …politics…
Canada’s secretary of state for foreign affairs says she cares about the health of an ailing Canadian woman imprisoned in a Mexican jail, but has no authority to bring her home.
Brenda Martin sat down with W-FIVE for an exclusive interview from the Mexican jail. Here are sopme of the details…
“It’s a foreign country and she’s in a foreign judicial system,” Helena Guergis told CTV’s Mike Duffy Live on Monday from Yellowknife, N.W.T.
“Canada does not have any control over the government of Mexico or their judicial process. Any suggestion that a politician can influence a judge’s decision is completely inappropriate.”
Brenda Martin, 51, was transferred to the hospital ward of her prison early Monday and placed under a suicide watch, after a constitutional challenge to her continued imprisonment was denied.
“I care a great deal,” said Guergis. “If I could have Ms. Martin home I would.”
Debra Tieleman, a friend of Martin’s, told CTV Newsnet that Martin is in an “extremely fragile” state.
“She fluctuates between being extremely withdrawn … to begging and pleading for somebody, anybody, to please help her,” she said.
“Mentally, she’s really a mess … I don’t know how much more of this she can take.”
Martin, a native of Trenton, Ont., has been in a Mexican prison for two years.
She has been jailed in connection with a fraud carried out by former boss Alyn Richard Waage, an inmate in a U.S. prison.
Martin has proclaimed her innocence and Waage backs that claim. Although Martin has been charged with money laundering, she has not yet been tried or convicted.
“The Mexican government considers this to be a very serious charge and there is no bail, which is why she’s been in jail,” said Guergis.
On Monday, a judge decided Martin’s case would proceed to a criminal trial.
Martin worked for Waage as a chef for 10 months, before she was fired and offered a severance package. She then opened her own catering business.
After Waage was arrested and convicted of running a major Internet pyramid scheme, Martin was taken to prison in February 2006. Authorities alleged that her severance package was actually money she’d been given to launder.
Tieleman said Martin was initially interrogated by “federales (federal police) without benefit of either a lawyer or interpreter.” That claim was the focus of Martin’s constitutional challenge to have her charges dismissed.
She also said Martin is wondering if the Canadian government will write a formal diplomatic note of protest to the Mexican government.
“In that note, it would lay out where Brenda’s rights have been abused under the international treaty that Canada and Mexico are both signatories on,” she said.
Any such note would likely come from Guergis, according to CTV’s Graham Richardson.
Guergis said she has worked hard to ensure the Mexican government “is aware that we have concerns about the length of time Ms. Martin’s trial has taken.”
She also said she met with the Mexican ambassador last Friday to discuss the case.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague has been hammering the government’s handling of the Martin affair, saying officials have done little to help Martin.
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Thank you CTV.ca and the News Staff
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I am sooooooooooooo glad that this is not me!
The reason why the Canadian Government is NOT known to me…But hey…you neighbors from the north…get this woman out of jail. Get her back home.
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
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You’re right, we do need to get Brenda out of the Mexican jail. It’s already too late. Brenda has already lost her mind. She will be severley scarred for the rest o her life. I hate Mexico and I will never set foot there, ever. Thanks to our useless government, Brenda will probably rot in jail! Way to go Canada! It’s embarrassing considering that I’m Canadian.
whoa , hold up their my good people.
We need to find out if she is guilty first of these charges, she is purposly delaying the trial with her constitiutional challanges.
Do you really believe the Mexicans dont have some concrete stuff on her???
if she is guilty, why in ” H ” do you want her back in Canada, She said herseld 10 years ago that she would never come back to Canada.
Wake up Canada, this Gal is a “con artist”
T.h.
It doesn’t matter anymore if Ms Martin is guilty or innocent; she has been imprisoned without benefit of consular assistance. The lack of a translator during her interrogation is wrong. Ms Guergis is my MP and whatever she says right now is irrelevant; for two years, a Canadian not formally charged has languished in a Mexican prison and Ms Guergis has done nothing. The fact Mr. Harper asked Mr Kenney to handle the file indicates to me Ms Guergis has mishandled Ms Martin’s situation. Further, Mr. Kenney appears to have had to begin at the beginning–more evidence of Ms Guergis’ incompetence. It will be a serious indictment of both Mr. Harper and Ms Guergis should Ms Martin not get out of prison soon. Would Canadians be so calm about this situation if an innocent middle-aged woman, a mother, was mistakenly imprisoned? Remember, it’s the same Secretary of State for both cases.
yes, I agree with Sharon, Ms. Guergis is probably a nice person, but needs more expierence. I think once the government saw all the facts on this case, and what evidence that they have against her they righfully back tracked. she (Brenda)was upset that it was released to the media how many times (100 ) the Canadian mexican counsalate contacted her she was very upset. Nope, something is very wrong here. She even turned in a “american” woman in the hopes of “leniency” but that didnt work. (this tells me lots about this gal).
let the trial decide. if she is innocent I will eat crow. if she is guilty why in ” H ” would we want this person back.
ted