Posted on 12/29/2012 5:23:51 AM PST by Kaslin
Jon Hammar saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but his most brutal foreign experience was in Mexico. Last August, the 27-year-old former Marine corporal was incarcerated by Mexican authorities in Matamoros for trying to register an antique shotgun with customs agents. Foolishly, Cpl. Hammar followed instructions given to him by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas. He registered the gun with them and brought the paperwork to the Mexicans to get their stamp of approval in order to carry the gun through the country. Hammar and a friend were driving a Winnebago, hoping to have a nice surfing vacation with some hunting on the side.
Even though the Mexican authorities clearly saw that Hammar was trying to follow the rules, they seized the Winnebago and locked the corporal up in the notoriously corrupt CEDES prison anyway. There he was threatened by other inmates and told by guards that he could buy his way out of the hellhole by paying money to the "right people."
Hammar's parents, who live in South Florida, immediately contacted the State Department and were told to be patient. And so they were. Three months later, Hammar was still incarcerated and had not even seen a judge, and things were becoming increasingly desperate.
That's when his parents gave up on the State Department and contacted the media.
When the story crossed my desk, I found it hard to believe. Cpl. Hammar had served his country honorably, returned to the USA with post-traumatic stress disorder, been treated for nine months in California and simply wanted a vacation after his ordeal. It was obvious that he was being held on bogus charges, and the State Department seemed impotent. When we asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a comment, she refused to say anything about the case. A few of her deputies visited Hammar in prison, but the official line was that State could do nothing more.
Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen raised some hell about the situation, but things continued to deteriorate. Mexican authorities actually chained Hammar to his bed. Another inmate sent a picture of that out to the press.
In mid-December, the Fox News White House correspondent asked press secretary Jay Carney about the case. President Barack Obama's spokesman looked perplexed and said he did not know anything about it. As unbelievable as that sounds, I believe that Carney was telling the truth. And by telling one truth, Carney indicated another truth: Neither Obama nor Secretary of State Clinton had come to the aid of an American combat veteran who was being abused by Mexican authorities.
Disgusted by our apathetic government, I took the case directly to the government of Mexico. On national television, I bluntly told the new Mexican presidente, Enrique Pena Nieto, that if he did not release Hammar by Christmas, I would lead a boycott of Mexican tourism and products. The next day, Hammar was released after a Mexican judge ruled there had been no intent to commit a crime.
The ordeal cost the Hammar family tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and untold emotional damage. Thankfully, the corporal did arrive home to South Florida in time to have a nice Christmas with his family. But this story is a cautionary tale for any American traveling outside the USA. If you get into trouble, you will be essentially on your own, even if you are a combat veteran. Our leaders in Washington are basically bureaucrats with short attention spans. If they couldn't work up the energy to help Jon Hammar, they are not going to help you.
True leadership means helping those who are powerless and sincerely need help. That takes time and energy. President Abraham Lincoln set aside one day a week to answer calls for help from the folks. The current administration would not answer a desperate call for months.
As for Mexico, it remains a corrupt country hostile to the rule of law. Let the buyer beware.
Thanks for the graphic; it cleared up nothing. How’d that work out for him?
Why would anyone willingly enter Mexico (unless they are buying drugs, guns, or trafficking in humans)?
(I know, to get to Costa Rica)
?????
0’Pinhead!!!!!
A classic example of adding insult to injury.
Hopefully, he’ll go the way of Dan Rather, soon.
Semper
*****
?????
0’Pinhead!!!!!
A classic example of adding insult to injury.
Hopefully, he’ll go the way of Dan Rather, soon.
Semper
*****
?????
0’Pinhead!!!!!
A classic example of adding insult to injury.
Hopefully, he’ll go the way of Dan Rather, soon.
Semper
*****
All you read was that Bill O'Reilly is the author of the article. Read the article next time and comment on it and not the author.
Also go see a shrink who can help you to get over your BOR derangement symptom. You need help. Serious
Very well said
I don't think Bill O'Reilly knew that, so don't criticize him for that
Then how about if we criticize him for being a self-important RAT who tries to so hard to convince us that he is neutral, that he usually looks like an idiot with zero credibility.
It only gets worse as you go South and get into warmer country, and finally you hit Mexico. Warmer climate, more game, sharper fangs ~ looking up some lists of poisonous snakes in Mexico and every genus has a representative there, and every species has one or more subspecies lurking around.
And lots of them I've heard!
The ineffectual State Department is a primary reason I am not allowing my kids to go overseas on class trips—these idiot teachers want to take them to places like China and Morocco (so they can go there on the parents’ dime) and I highly doubt if any kid got disappeared that we would get any help from State.
Don’t bother oh. Kaslin gets paid by Townhall to repost their “articles” - not evaluate whether they’re full of bovine excrement.
Good, Lord!
Here we have an outrageous story of corruption, incompetence, apathy, and injustice committed against an American veteran.
An American who was completely innocent, jailed in one of the worst Mexican prisons, allowed to wallow in said jail by our completely worthless and apathetic State Dept, and was eventually helped and released due to the efforts of the media, and one Bill O’Reiley in particular - who got him out of that hellhole back to his family, and all you can do is bash O’Reiley and this poor vet because some minor facts were not completely in place????
Yeah, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, too!
re: “. . . not evaluate whether they’re full of bovine excrement.”
Does that include yourself as well? Why don’t you give us the full story then? Truly, some of you guys “strain at a gnat” but completely miss the camel!
Saints are guilty until proven innocent.
If one wants the full story, you’re NOT going to get it from RINO Townhall drek or Bill O’Reilly.
re: “If one wants the full story, you’re NOT going to get it from RINO Townhall drek or Bill O’Reilly.”
Give us all the REAL facts to this story since you say we can’t trust ANYTHING that Kaslin or O’Reilly says.
Oddly enough, I lay the fault of this at the feet of the Marine. There is a State Department travel warning, entitled “Guns are Illegal in Mexico” (and it mentions knives, too.):
http://tijuana.usconsulate.gov/tijuana/warning.html
It is *essential* for visitors to Mexico know that you do not *ever* bring a gun, gun parts, bullets or even shell casings or gun accessories, *or* knives, with you when you visit Mexico.
Ever. I don’t care if there is an “official process” and paperwork that will supposedly let you do so.
IT IS A LIE. You CANNOT EVER bring a gun, gun parts, bullets or even shell casings or gun accessories with you when you visit Mexico. Not EVER.
And this applies to anyone and everyone. (If not Obama and Holder, with their Fast & Furious gun exports.)
The Mexicans WILL arrest you and put you in prison. They will do so if you are a decorated Marine, or if you are an elderly grandmother, or one of your buddies left a shell casing in your car when you went hunting, or even a small child with a pocket knife. NO excuses.
They WILL arrest you.
This is why before you go to Mexico, you get every inch of your car vacuumed, even removing items that might *look* like gun parts, like loose metal tubes not part of the engine.
You check every inch of your luggage. And every inch of the luggage of friends and family coming with you.
“Don’t carry a knife, even a small pocketknife, on your person in Mexico.”
“Claiming not to know about the law will not get you leniency from a police officer or the judicial system. Leave your firearms, ammunition, and knives at home. Don’t bring them into Mexico.”
This is as clear as it gets. Like “Do not bring Bibles to Saudi Arabia.” The Saudis probably have an “official process” and paperwork, by which you could legally import Bibles. DON’T DO IT.
Your elevating BOR and former L/Cpl Hammar to near sainthood merely shows your arrogance and ignorance.
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