Payback for Fast & Furious, I would guess. Maybe it was all the talk about Americans boycotting travel to Mexico that brought them to their senses.
If this is F&F related, that’s worse than just general principles IMO.
F&F was despicable. Make a formal complaint and press it at the appropriate venue. Don’t screw over one individual whose plight won’t be known by 85% of our populace.
Perhaps you’re right about the boycotting. I hadn’t heard of a big plan, but Mexico may have feared that eventuality.
Mexican authorities have been arresting US citizens for MANY years for firearms, ammunition, knives. It is a well known way to rot in a Mexican jail. Long before F & F. I imagine the pressure of bad publicity was getting to them to release this man, to their way of thinking though we were just upset that they jailed a hero/important person, it will not change the fact that they do the same thing to many Americans every year, and most rot away with sentences of around 30 years for little of nothing- parts or ammo even.