The language shows that this threat is real and should be taken seriously.
Will President Obama make an appeal for this young man?
Statement Analysis is in bold type.
Extortion call, somber visit bring nightmare home for parents of Marine jailed in Mexico
The father of a U.S. Marine jailed in Mexico after being caught with his grandfather's antique shotgun heard the fear in his son's voice and felt helpless.
The phone call came at midnight from Mexico's notorious CEDES prison, where Jon Hammar Jr. has been held since August. The caller demanded $1,800, then put Hammar on to drive the point home.
"They're serious, Dad. 'll pay you back; they are going to kill me."
- Jon Hammar, Jr., speaking by phone from a Mexican jail
Please note that the father is quoting the son. The use of the name is for emphasis, which is the 'expected' in such a situation. That a son would think to pay back may be something said for the captor.
"They are going to kill me" is very plain language.
Hammar, who faced down Iraqi insurgents in the final push on Fallujah in 2004, has been in dangerous situations before. But his treatment in the infamous prison, where Mexico's murderous Los Zetas and Gulf drug cartels hold sway, has his family fearing for the 27-year-old's life -- and begging the Obama administration for help. Hammar was arrested in the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Aug. 13, after declaring to a Mexican customs agent that he possessed an antique shotgun he was carrying through the country on his way to Costa Rica, where he and a pal planned to surf and forget the horrors of war that plagued Hammar long after his honorable discharge in 2007.
Even though a U.S. border agent in Brownsville, Texas, had assured Hammar the gun was legal as long as he declared it to Mexican authorities, he was nabbed just across the border, and charged with an aggravated felony punishable up to 15 years in prison. While in prison, Hammar has been repeatedly threatened and, according to reports, left chained for days to a steel bed. But it was the call, just two days after their son's arrest, that continues to haunt Hammar's parents. They believe their son's service to his country -- memorialized forever by a "USMC" tattoo on his arm, made him a target behind bars.
"The reason why he got processed so fast was because he has a USMC tattoo," Jon Hammar Sr., 48, told FoxNews.com. "You can't mistake who these guys are."
It was Hammar's mother, Olivia, who took the unnerving call at their Palmetto Bay, Fla., home. As her face turned ashen at the caller's demand, Jon Hammar Sr. grabbed the phone and heard a voice say, "This prison is our house!"
That she quotes a voice and uses "this" (indicating closeness) is a signal of veracity.
This could be from a corrupt guard, or even from another prisoner.
The threat is real. The danger continues each moment he is left there.
It wasn't an idle boast. The prison was the scene of the escape of 151 inmates in December 2010 and 59 in July 2011, and dozens of guards were later charged with helping with the breakout. And the prison has an unparalleled reputation for violence: In 2005, two American brothers jailed on homicide charges were found stabbed to death in their cells. The inmate ranks are swollen with members of the Mexican mafia and various cartels, shootouts and escapes are common and guards have confiscated guns and even an AK-47s from cells over the years.
Hammar could tell his son was under duress. He was fully prepared to pay the ransom, but the caller said he would call back in the morning with a Western Union account number. Hammar found that to be strange.
"You're about to kill my son and you don't even have an account number and you'll call me back?" Hammar said.
The threat is not reduced by the lack of preparation. The father's own language, "about to kill my son" is not something expected if he had doubts about the potential. He is able to form the words.
Hammar also wondered how the caller got his home number and was able to place the nighttime call. He got hold of a U.S. Consulate official who promised to convey the threat to high-ranking Mexican military officials in the region. No call came from the prison in the morning.
A shaken Hammar knew that he had to get to his son as soon as possible. After negotiating the procedural maze of obtaining consulate approval to go to the prison, Hammar and his son's attorney, Eddie Varon-Levy, made their way to Tamaulipas, the northeastern state where the prison is located just 15 miles from Brownsville, Texas. They were surprised to find that when they arrived, consular officials could not obtain clearance to accompany them behind the walls of the lockup. The men went inside alone.
On the surface, CEDES officials appeared to go out of their way to make "everything look good," Hammar recalled. His son, who was not expecting the visit, was shocked and worried when he saw them.
"He wasn't concerned about his safety, but ours," Hammar said. "He was more angry that we put ourselves at risk for coming to the prison."
His son looked worn out and thin, Hammar recalled. What concerned him most was how "odd" the side of his mouth looked and his son's reluctance to show his father his body.
"He was wearing his own clothes and when I went to lift his shirt up he knocked my hand away," Hammar said. "He wouldn't take his shirt off because he was concerned about repercussions."
There are numerous reports and allegations of inmate abuse by other inmates and prison officials in Mexico, some of which have resulted in death.
Ricardo Alday, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Washington, D.C., told FoxNews.com Hammar's safety is guaranteed by the Mexican government.
"Mr. Hammar is currently detained in Tamaulipas and, as any other detainee facing criminal charges, he has the right to defense counsel and a fair trial," Alday said. "In addition, his life and integrity are protected by national and international laws."
Alday said Mexican authorities have ensured Hammar's right to help from U.S. diplomatic officials, and said he has been in contact with U.S. Consular officers in Mexico who have regularly visited him.
A spokesman for the State Department said officials have visited Hammar three times, spoken with him by phone and contacted prison officials to stop them from chaining him to the bed.
"The safety and well-being of U.S. citizens is something we take very seriously," said Peter Velasco.
But his father's confidence in the U.S. State Department has waned as his son has languished in prison.
"We're grateful that they saved his life and are being another set of eyes, but they haven't been much help getting him released," Hammar said.
Their son's PTSD also concerns the Hammars. After repeat combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars took an emotional toll on Hammar.
His father said that Jon had received treatment through the Veterans Administration, but had a "very bad" reaction to the medication he was given and was reliant on therapy to help him cope.
"He has not been given any care in prison and, so far, we haven't seen any flare-ups," Hammar said. "We are still concerned."
10 comments:
Will President Obama make an appeal for this young man?
Are you kidding me? Unless they were wearing hoodies, had been kicked out of school, were using drugs, had burglary tools on them and were lazy losers, then the anti-christ would have a press conference to tell everyone how he sees himself as the young man.
He is of course incapable of saying anything, unless he injects himself into it. It is the sociopathic narcisist way, and we all know how much America loves sociopaths. That's why James Bond movies are so popular.
Shut up ^*^^^ bet your mexican!
The "oddness" of the side of his mouth noted by his dad suggests nerve damage, and the fact that he wouldn't allow his dad to see his body makes me very afraid for this young man. Dad needs to get as much media focus on this as possible, and call every freakin' congressman/woman who will listen.
JMO
Amaleen6,
Word.
Let's help his dad.
I'm in, Nanna.
Let's help his young man and his family! Contact President Obama at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Please include your e-mail address
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
If enough people contact the White House, President Obama will respond.
Amaleen6,
Thanks! I received a reply from my earlier email telling me to go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
and I did.
off topic
The body of a missing North Carolina teenager was found in a pond a quarter mile away from her home nearly four days after she disappeared.
Kayla Campbell, 16, told her parents that she would be back in a few hours when she left their Mint Hill home on Sunday afternoon, and when she never returned, her father feared that she had been abducted by someone she met online.
'This morning we must release news we had hoped would not become true in this case,' police said in a statement following the discovery of their body after draining the lake overnight.
The circumstances surrounding her death are still being investigated and the cause was not immediately clear.
Her father Robert Campbell previously told ABCNews.com: 'We were just dealing with the emotions of a teenager, having to do with some online relationships on a Tumblr page. These relationships were not healthy.'
He told the network: 'We called her at 5.20pm and she said she was close-by, but we didn't feel like she was telling the truth... We became concerned when the GPS on her phone showed her being in one area and she told us she was in another. She's not great with directions.'
She has battled with depression in the past, but her brother Josh told WBTV: 'Kayla was getting better. She was working with professionals who were getting her the helps she needs and she was getting better
On her Tumblr page, Kayla had written of attempting to commit suicide on several occasions.
An initial search of the pond earlier in the investigation had proved fruitless, but on Wednesday night the Mint Hill police spent hours draining the pond, with neighbors occasionally stopping by to check the progress. Just after midnight, the police asked all neighbors and press to leave the scene since they found the teenager's lifeless body.
One neighbor told The Charlotte Observer that the deepest points of the pond, located just off Pumpkin Way Drive, vary between 10 and 12 feet.
The first sign that the pond may play a role in the case was when police discovered her bicycle, helmet, and cell phone nearby two days ago.
Her family said that would regularly go to the area to hang out and take pictures with her friends from Independence High School.
The FBI joined the investigation, though they never officially ruled it an abduction case, always deeming it a missing persons search.
Her brother Josh told WBTV: 'She's a great kid, couldn't ask for a better sister. All we want right now is for her to come home safe and unharmed.
Mr Campbell said that he instructed his daughter to get home before dark on Sunday, and when he called her in the evening after she hadn't returned, he grew suspicious.
He told the network: 'We called her at 5:20pm and she said she was close-by, but we didn't feel like she was telling the truth... We became concerned when the GPS on her phone showed her being in one area and she told us she was in another. She's not great with directions.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2247623/Kayla-Campbell-Body-missing-North-Carolina-teen-pond.html
Isn't 1/4 a mile considered "close by?" Where did the GPS show her to be, since her phone was by the pond? If the GPS showed her somewhere why didn't her dad and brother go get her?
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