Pubdate: Wed, 29 May 2013
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2013 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Daniel Gonzalez

FAMILY: MOM DIDN'T SMUGGLE POT

Goodyear Woman Is Being Held in Mexico

Yanira Maldonado has spent more than a week in prison in Mexico after 
Mexican officials found 12 pounds of marijuana under her bus seat, 
but family members say the Mormon mother from Goodyear is the victim 
of a nightmarish mistake.

Family members believe that someone else may have been trying to 
smuggle the marijuana and that 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 was returning to the Valley with her husband, Gary Maldonado, 
on May 22 when they passed through a military checkpoint near 
Hermosillo 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 said.

A federal judge in Nogales listened to witnesses Tuesday, and the 
family hopes to know by Friday whether the case will be dismissed, he said.

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 on May19 to attend a funeral for Yanira's 
aunt near Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa, Larry 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 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.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom