US Woman Facing Drug Charge Released in Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

US Woman Facing Drug Charge Released in Mexico
By CRISTINA SILVA Associated Press
NOGALES, Mexico May 31, 2013 (AP)

An Arizona woman held in a Mexico jail for a week on a drug-smuggling charge was freed after a court reviewed her case, including key security footage, and dismissed the allegations.

Yanira Maldonado, 42, walked out of the prison on the outskirts of Nogales, Mexico and into her husband's arms late Thursday night.

She spoke briefly, thanking U.S. state department officials, her husband, her lawyers and prison workers who made her stay comfortable.

"Many thanks to everyone, especially my God who let me go free, my family, my children, who with their help, I was able to survive this test," she said.

The family's lawyer in Nogales, Jose Francisco Benitez Paz, said a judge determined Thursday that she was no longer a suspect and all allegations against her were dropped. The couple planned to immediately return to Arizona, he said.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-woman-facing-drug-charge-released-mexico-19294012#.Uah0x-oo7JU

[premium]

1. Good news.

This poor woman should never have been arrested in the first place, there was zero evidence that she put those drugs under that bus seat, nobody saw her carry a 15lb package onto the bus, nobody saw her secure it under her seat.
It wouldn't surprise me if it was planted by the Federales themselves to look like they were actually doing something.

If I were her, I would get the hell out of Mexico as fast as I could and never return there, chances are that she's now a target to the police.

[bahrbearian]

3. So it couldn't have been a arranged drop?

[premium]

5. I guess it could have been,

but there is no evidence of it being so.

[siligut]

9. Mr Maldonado said that the man sitting behind them and the drugs, fled the scene.

It seems rather odd that the man was allowed to flee while at a security checkpoint. Any security checkpoint I have ever been through had people with guns watching every move.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/56388707-68/maldonado-bus-mexico-gary.html.csp

The bus passed through at least two checkpoints on the way to the border without incident. In the town of Querobabi in the border state of Sonora, all the passengers were ordered off the bus and a soldier searched the interior as they waited. The soldier exited and told his superiors that packets of drugs had been found under seat 39, Yanira Maldonado’s, and another seat, number 42. Her husband was in seat 40.

Gary Maldonado said a man sitting behind them on the bus fled during the inspection. He believes the man might have been the true owner of the drugs.

So one of the passengers fled during the inspection and no one else even noticed it, and there is no follow up on it? Maybe it is only in this article and just something Mormons want to believe.

[Sienna86]

2. So, will this affect tourism to Mexico?

Glad she was finally released. What an ordeal.

[question everything]

7. Should

With the various car hijacking, or just being caught in gangs crossfire - why would anyone go there?

[savalez]

8. Yeah, stuff like that never happens here.

[question everything]

10. I'll take my chances with American police, attorneys and the courts

then the Mexican ones. Whenever a brave public official there is attempting to clean their town, they end up being dead.

DUers who claim that ours is a "police state" or that our law enforcement personnel are corrupt, have never lived in a real police state with real corrupt police.

This was something that a white visitor from South African, in the 70s, observed and he was right, of course.

[Kingofalldems]

4. Kick and Rec

[SunSeeker]

6. Last time I went to Mexico, I swore I would never return.

They jacked up prices for tourists, it was crime-ridden (and that was before the recent drug war killing sprees), and the poor sanitary conditions did not make me feel like partying it up. If I want a tropical vacation, I just go to Hawaii, where it's safe to drink the water and I don't have to worry about crime..and I am contributing to the U.S. economy, not some other country's.