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Gruesome kidnapping leads to calls for Mexican death penalty
In the last week, Mexico, and Mexico City in particular, has fallen into the grip of a familiar bogeyman: fear of kidnappings. Authorities say that a current wave of kidnappings - they’re up 35 percent between 2006 and 2007 - recalls the grim days of the late 1990’s, when rampant kidnappings terrorized the city, inspired Hollywood films like Man on Fire and culminated in massive citizen protest. Then for a couple years, kidnappings appeared to diminish somewhat in the public glare.
That respite has been shattered with the kidnapping and slaying of Fernando Marti, the 14-year-old son of a prominent sporting goods mogul. Despite receiving $5 million in ransom from the family, the kidnappers killed the boy and abandoned his body in a car in the Coyoacan neighborhood. Among the suspects detained so far are federal police officers stationed at the Mexico City airport. The authorities’ working theory is that the kidnapping gang is made up of former and current police who may have inside information into the investigation against them.
The story has played into a collective paranoia about street crime that is never far from the surface. In the wake of Marti’s killing, 71 percent of Mexico City residents now say they want the death penalty for kidnappers (Mexico’s Constiution prohibits the death penalty). So consumed has Mexico been with the case that the execution of Mexican inmate Jose Medellin by the State of Texas Tuesday night hardly caused a ripple.
As longtime AP Mexico correspondent Mark Stevenson reported, “With the nation riveted on its own kidnap and killing of a 14-year-old boy, the normally anti-death penalty country expressed far less outrage at the death of Jose Medellin, a Mexican national convicted in the 1993 rape and murder of two Texas girls.”
Marti’s case sounds like the script to yet another movie about Mexico City crime. On his way to high school early on a June morning, the armored BMW carrying Marti, his driver and his bodyguard, was stopped by what appeared to be a police checkpoint on Insurgentes Avenue, Mexico’s longest (and perhaps busiest) street. The kidnappers forced the three victims into a van and sped away in front of a gaggle of onlookers.
That afternoon, kidnappers demanded a $3 million ransom. The next day, Marti’s father said he could only raise $1.9 million on such short notice. The family says the kidnappers grew furious and threatened violence. That night, the driver was found in an abandoned car, dead with a chrysanthemum on his face. In the trunk Marti’s bodyguard lay prone, sprinkled with flower petals (the gang came to be known “The Flower”). But the bodyguard was not dead as the kidnappers believed and he regained consciousness shortly after he was found. Authorities kept the resuscitation a secret, telling the world the bodyguard was dead and checking him into a hospital under a different name. They now hope he can help lead them to the kidnappers.
As time went on, the desperate family offered the kidnappers $5 million - $2 million more than the original asking price. Yet authorities believe that on the day they received the money, the kidnappers killed Marti. His decomposing body was found a month later, during which time the family pleaded with the kidnappers through newspaper ads to give them their son back.
So what does the current wave of kidnappings mean for Mexico? Political analyst Sergio Sarmiento put it in stark terms in the Reforma newspaper this week: “In the mid- to late ‘90’s, when there was another wave of kidnappings, maybe as strong as the current one, the result was not just the loss of lives and an atmosphere of insecurity, but a very considerable flight of capital and the departure of entire families from the country. Without a doubt there has been a very large economic cost and thousands of productive jobs haven’t been created as a consequence of the fear generated by the kidnappers.”
On Thursday, President Felipe Calderon called for life sentences for violent kidnappers (the current max in Mexican law is 50 years). But as Sarmiento writes, even the death penalty won’t dissuade kidnappers who believe they will never be caught, since the vast majority of kidnappings never result in an arrest.
Comments
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By marvin
August 8, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this
i was almost kidnapped by the mexican police for drinking a beer on the wrong spot. i had to pay them off. then they gave me my beer back. i will never go back to the land of crime. mexico
By Justice for the People
August 8, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this
Forget about the courts. Hunt ‘em down and kill ‘em.
By masstexodus
August 8, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this
It’s a shame that the Mexican government seems to spend more time and effort lobbying to save convicted Mexican killers in the US than implementing effective policies to protect its own innocent citizens from violent predators.
By jimnaustin
August 8, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
Rest assured, the perpetrators of this crime will all be killed, whether they are in custody or not. This is how the Mexican “justice system” works.
A Mexican that can raise millions of dollars in ransom will be well-connected, at all levels. Look for these kidnappers to be killed before they are caught, but we’ll never hear about it. Jim
By Larry
August 8, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this
Mexico should know by now they are seen as patsies by the gangster element. Even Mexicans that kill here in the US try to flee back to Mexico where they know they won’t receive any punishment for their deed and won’t get the death penalty if Mexico turns him over to the US. With criminals controlling huge parts of Mexico, including all their prisons it would look like Mexico would know they need the death penalty for the worst of the worst. Until they deal with this issue they will always be at the mercy of the bad guys.
By Elena
August 8, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
I have lived here in Mexico for 23 years. Overall it is a peaceful place, several hours from the capital (D.F.) in a beautiful city (Morelia) of nearly 2 million.
The kidnappings have become worse, mainly with the wealthy. A 30-year old well-educated son of a local family that has holdings worth 30 million dollars in another state, was kidnapped. His father gave the $3 million requested, but the son’s charred remains were found weeks later. It was listed as an auto accident so attention and more kidnappings would not take place with the family. Wealth seems to be the factor and Mexico certainly has their wealthy (and poor. No one wants to be a policeman because of the low pay and almost certainty of dying on the job, thus corrupt law enforcement. USA is heading that way too, but in other corruptive aspects.