Posted on 12/21/2012 6:58:27 AM PST by alancarp
DEVELOPING: Jon Hammar, the U.S. Marine imprisoned in Mexico on a gun charge, will be released today, his mother told Fox News Radio.
Olivia Hammar said the judge hearing Hammar's case issued a ruling in his favor and that her son is to be released at a time on Friday yet to be announced. No more details were available. Hammar, 27, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been stuck in a notorious, drug cartel-controlled prison just 15 miles south of the U.S. border since Aug. 13, after he crossed into Mexico and declared an antique shotgun to Mexican customs officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Rep. “Hunter calls for Americans to boycott Mexico”
What about the rest of the Americans who are in prison? An American boycott on Mexican products may cause a mass release of those injustly placed in Mexican prisons.
definitely this - ten thousand times over.
Refreshing to see some leadership in D.C..
I’ve been boycotting things Mexican for a long time. I would NEVER travel there anymore, it’s been years. We give them enough of our money. I don’t need to travel there as well. You don’t even know if you’d make it back home. Of course, that can be said of going to the grocery store here at home, but if you’re incarcerated there, good luck to you.
Gun laws in Mexico for their own citizens are pretty strict, their Constitution provides for them to “keep” firearms but not to “bear” them as I understand it, what is allowed theoretically is home protection or shooting on own property in rural areas. Also restrictions are tight on citizens without ties to military or law enforcement as to owning most types of firearms. I have had ordinary rural citizens of Mexico tell me they are basically allowed something like a single shot 22 rifle. Many things play a part, bribery of officials, different enforcement in different areas- basically they are at the whim of local law enforcement and roving units of military- as are non-citizens.
Kudos to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, and Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, for pushing for this Marine’s freedom.
I just got back from Mexico City on Monday, and lived 10 miles from the border for a few years (Ft. Huachuca). At the border, the US is hot on intercepting drugs, and Mexico is hot on intercepting guns. That is a significant cultural difference.
Overall, Mexico has been a pretty good news story since the 1990’s (the years following the collapse of Soviet Communism), when the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) decided to liberalize their virtual monopoly on power, reduce the concentration of power in the office of the Presidency, and diversify the State’s massive role in the economy.
It is not well known in the US just how radical politics were in Mexico in the 20th century, because a virtual one party state re-wrote the history being taught, censored the press and pandered desperately for tourist cash. Trotsky didn’t flee to Mexico from the Soviet Union at random, he was welcomed by socialist revolutionaries in power who were implementing many aspects of his vision.
In the 1920’s and 30’s, the Mexican Government harshly suppressed religion - killing or driving out over 90% of priests, nationalizing Church properties, outlawing religion in public, and sparking the Cristero War which resulted in tens of thousands being killed. The Government eventually backed off its enforcement of the anti-clerical provisions of its revolutionary constitution, but kept its poverty-inducing socialistic practices until the 1990’s.
From 2000 to 2012, the conservative National Action Party (PAN) held the Presidency, and instituted economic liberalization which has transformed Mexico (a big factor in turning the tide on immigration). My wife and I rode to the pyramids of Teotihuacan outside of Mexico City with another couple who had been there in 2000. They were amazed by the dramatic transformation of what had been an endless slum of corrugated metal shacks.
Just this month, the PRI party re-assumed the Presidency after a 12 year break. A lot of folks are still very bullish on the prospects for the Mexican economy though, because the new PRI leadership grew up after the PRI liberalized, and power is more dispersed now throughout civil society. More concretely, PRI has a minority in the legislature, and can only pass legislation by consensus with the PAN. Also significant, is that public consensus is pretty strong now for free trade (Mexico has more free trade pacts than any other country), stronger anti-corruption measures, and more resources to counter narco traffickers. PAN, PRI and even the more left wing PRD were pretty much all espousing the same thing on these issues during the election.
So even though some things suck in Mexico, they have been getting better faster than most places. It offers great value for the tourist dollar, and my wife and I always have a good time when we go there. Having been to more than 70 countries, we go back to Mexico more than any other country. Some local law enforcement screwed an American in this instance (police corruption/inefficiency is a big problem there), but higher-ups have reacted to try to fix it. I would not hold it against the whole country - it was not a malicious anti-American policy, like you see in many other countries, but rather reflective of their own problems with law enforcement and their particular hot-button focus on gun smuggling.
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.
Gotta give give Bill O'Reilly a fair amount of credit for this... he's been at the forefront in getting this Marine home in time for Christmas, threatening a massive boycott of Mexico if the Mexican gov't didn't release Hammar.
I hope the lesson this kid takes away from his experience is that,particularly when entering a Fourth World lawless cesspool like Mexico,it’s not a wise idea to attempt to take *any* firearm with you,regardless of how harmless you think it is and regardless of the Second Amendment rights we might have here.Hell,I wouldn’t attempt to enter a hellhole like Mexico...a nation where every cop,every border guard and every judge is crooked and on the take (if not an actual psychopathic murderer)...with a pack of chewing gum.
See Post #50
Evidently it took over four months for Mexican leadership to scrape together enough functioning brain cells to determine you don’t declare a weapon to authorities, if you have evil plans, or are doing anything other than what you think you are required to do by the letter of the law.
It took his family four months to realize the State Department was lying about securing his release.
Folks I wanted to let all of you know that 3 of our very own offered assistance in helping free Hammar.
I don’t have permission to use their names but you know who you are.
I want to say that your love of country, your loyalty to the Constitution and the rights of others have done you proud.
Thank you. And thank God.
Amen brother
And thanks to 3 FReepers who volunteered to help.
Praise God
obviously he was operating with wrong/bad information. I doubt the Marine would have tried to “declare” the weapon if he was trying to smuggle it in......
Well, it’s almost tomorrow. Has he been released yet?
OOPS!! just saw on breaking news that he is now back on US soil.
I am so glad he is finally free, but I question his faith in government if he actually believed he could take any kind of gun into Mexico without repercussions. This kind of faith in bureaucracy is dangerous.
How else would they keep their cartel masters paid off?
>> Gotta give give Bill O’Reilly a fair amount of credit for this...
Agreed.
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