FOR THE BLOG FROM REBECCA ROTH

February 10, 2009

TO ALL FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS:

The past few months have been a period of hopeful waiting beginning with the assignment of the Magistrate Parra-Parra on April 22nd, the date I was sentenced and I appealed the sentence. Next, the visit to her by my sister Barbara and friend Lucy, in which they were told by the Magistrate that she was reviewing my case. LIE

Also, the US Consulate sent a letter during this time and was told by this magistrate that she was reviewing my case with “a good eye” meaning thoroughly. LIE

Then on October 3rd, the court notifier and court translator came to let me know that my case had been sent along with another 24 cases to the State of Guanajuato, the equivalent of sending a case from Washington State (Olympia) to Salem, Oregon. The reason I was told that it had been sent was because of an agreement between the Mexican states of Jalisco and Guanajuato to help each other out when they were overburdened with work. My Public Defender (attorney) Mario Lamas Guzman assured me that he thought this was a good thing and that it would speed up the process.

I really didn’t know what to think since I had already been told that the 1st magistrate was very hard working was not afraid to make decisions and couldn’t be pressured into doing something by the Ministerio Publico (the enemy).

Now I was being told that this new magistrate was removed from the politics in play here in Jalisco and that he would be left in peace by all parties so that he could accomplish his work quicker and without the bias we had seen with the 1st Judge. Also, I was told that 4-5 cases were coming back per week and the results and been very positive since they (the tribunal in Guanajuato) were using a new criteria.

In November, my sister Barbara and friend Lucy got in the car and went to Guanajuato (a six hour drive) to see the new Judge. They received a lukewarm reception and were granted a whole 15 minutes in which they learned that after 4 weeks in his possession my case was still on the bottom of his other cases to review (he had been told my case was difficult) and that he would do his best to review it before the end of the year. LIE

On New Year’s Eve I spoke to my sister and ex-husband telling them jokingly that the magistrate only had about 7 hours left to render a decision. At 7 PM I was called to the Locutoria – which is the Plexiglas room where attorneys and other visitors come to communicate or deliver notifications. I put on my putty colored prison dress and the adrenalin was pumping…Could I be going free on New Year’s Eve 2008? Nervous tears literally sprung from my eyes as a mixture of emotions, anticipation, hope and dread came upon me. Esmeralda and Leah waited by the cell block door as I walked out into the chilly night.

It turned out to be my dedicated lawyer, a Public Defender whose colleagues belittle him for working so hard and caring so much. His wife and family don’t understand why he works such long hours either. He came to tell me that now, the earliest we would hear would be January 15th, as that is about the time the magistrates actually begin working again. That night I told my attorney to explain to his wife and children, that only by the work of dedicated men like him would Justice ever have any hope of re-entering into this sick decaying system. And that they are suffering by his absence so that by his efforts and God’s protection, the rampant injustice that is a daily reality in this country will never make it to their doorstep.

Once again, I was appeased to wait till the 15th. However, I began to feel anxiety building on the 13th, 14th, 15th, etc. Finally I went to my psychologist for some Flower Drops she puts in water for depression and anxiety. That week I had an Asthma crisis which landed me into the clinic here early one morning. I was unable to breathe and my roommates covered me in blankets and took me to the clinic, where a Supervising guard asked them why they brought me there as there was no doctor. Upon hearing this, I willed myself to calm down. I was unable to speak. I’m not sure how much time passed when the Pediatrician arrived and injected me with something and gave me a nebulizer treatment. They were unable to locate my mask and nebulizer but I was grateful to be breathing again. Over the next four days after asking all personnel, I learned that not only my nebulizer and mask are gone, but the other three as well. (Many months previously a Rotarian from Puerto Vallarta had brought 5 new nebulizers and masks to donate to the prison with the provision that one set would be solely for my use.)

Once again I was sharing a dirty mask with all Asthma sufferers. Thank God I am becoming healthier every day.

My sister received an email from someone in Puerto Vallarta who is supposed to know what is going on with my case. This person told us months ago that I would be leaving. They didn’t know when…but that I would be leaving. Now this email stated by the end of January. You guessed it, January 31st has come and gone.

Last Friday Lucy was here and told me she’d talked to my attorney about my illness and growing anxiety. He had promised her that he would come to see me. Yesterday the US Consulate came for their 90 day visit (early they said) due to the email my sister sent regarding the Asthma Crisis and the missing donated nebulizers.

They brought me used: The New Yorker, The Economist, a Novel, 3 bras, 2 socks, 1 pair of Wilson tennis shoes, hotel and spa sized soaps, shampoo and conditioner.

I received the same party line of non-interference from the new American Citizen Services “suit” and we went through the same scenario. It brought to mind (appropriately due to the current dates FEBRUARY 2 IS GROUND HOG DAY in which Bill Murray (ME) continues to relive the same day over and over again. Only in my case it’s the endless revolving bureaucrats who represent the USA in Mexico. I relive these every 90 day meetings with new faces spouting the same worn out lines, like in “Ground Hog Day.” How can I cope?

In the afternoon I was called to the Locutorio and once again…This time it was my attorney wondering why I am so anxious and depressed. I said, “I’ve been waiting since April 22, 2008 for my Appeal. He said “yes”, but remember the first Magistrate didn’t do anything for four months! I said, “It doesn’t look like the second one is doing anything either.” I asked him if he really believed that this magistrate was going to do his job and clear me of these charges? He said, “I must believe it and you must believe it too.”

Barbara reassures me by telling me the more injustice that occurs; the greater the final outcome is going to be. I’m trying not to take a position on this. But at the end of the day, Ana Maria Salaras my Imagin Radio Mexican News in English had something to say. Her listeners were surveyed and they indicated (a majority of them), that if they were witnesses to a crime, they would not report it or get involved in any way: 1) They don’t trust the Police, 2) They don’t trust the Judges, 3) They don’t trust the Legal System. Ana Maria’s guest and she too, indicated that because of the lack of transparency and accountability in these areas, they can never expect people to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies.

REMEMBER in 2001, I WAS A WITNESS! In 2006, when they arrested me, they told me in Puerto Vallarta that the authorities in Guadalajara only wanted an augmentation of my first declaration as a witness. ALL LIES!

After I heard this widely held belief on the radio, I couldn’t sleep for hours trying to cry silently so as to not disturb the other 13 victims in my room with my despair. Transparency – means the work that the authorities do is done openly and not in secret, behind closed doors without accountability.

I still believe in my Public Defender Mario Lamas Guzman, however he left me with this final shot – He said, “What does it matter if it takes another 2-3 months, if the Judge acquits you in the end.”