The family and friends of Rebecca Roth would like to thank and gratefully acknowledge Margie Boule and The Oregonian for their continued interest in and exposure of the plight of Rebecca Roth, truly a Prisoner in Paradise.
Click HERE to see the original posting of the article in Margie Boule's column
MARGIE BOULÉ
Living blog from the The Oregonian columnist
Former Oregonian still sits in Mexican prison
by Margie Boule, The Oregonian
Thursday May 28, 2009, 5:58 AM
Last week an American journalist, Roxana Saberi, was released from prison in Iran after her sentence for espionage was cut by the Iranian government.
Roxana, 31 and beautiful, was set free after a global outcry. Hillary Clinton negotiated for her release. President Barack Obama himself made an appeal.
Today Roxana is safely within the borders of the U.S.
Former Lake Oswego resident Rebecca Roth still sits in a filthy, overcrowded Mexican prison.
To date, no U.S. politicians have spoken out in defense of a woman whom almost everyone familiar with her case -- except two Mexican judges and a prosecutor -- believes is innocent.
The contrast is stark. It hurts Rebecca and her family. Roxana is free. Rebecca is incarcerated.
Roxana is celebrating and thanking journalists and U.S. leaders who spoke out on her behalf.
Rebecca's family has never even had a response to their appeals for help to the U.S. State Department. Oregon's senators and representatives have said only that they are "watching" her case; no one has intervened or made speeches or visited Mexico.
There is more than the quick release of Roxana Saberi to point to, in contrast to Rebecca's plight.
Rebecca was living in Mexico in 2001, when she took a part-time job paying utility bills for a Canadian man named Alyn Waage. Because the bills could not be paid by mail in that country,
Rebecca was hired to stand in lines and settle accounts for the multimillionaire's many properties. She also made travel reservations for Alyn and his family.
Rebecca says she had no idea Alyn was actually running a massive Internet-based Ponzi scheme from his home in Puerto Vallarta.
U.S. officials who later prosecuted Alyn knew Rebecca was not involved in the scheme. She wasn't charged with a crime. She wasn't even called to testify at his U.S. trial in 2005. Alyn is now in a U.S. prison.
But in 2006, Mexico suddenly arrested Rebecca and a Canadian woman and charged them with organized crime. The Canadian had been Alyn's cook in Mexico.
What followed was a sickening study in contrasts. Canadian politicians were outraged. The Canadian prime minister flew to Mexico. The Canadian media made their citizen a household heroine north of our border. The government hired three high-priced attorneys to defend her.
Rebecca waited for the U.S. to assist her. Nothing happened. Officials at the U.S. consulate did not even ensure her rights to have a translator, to not be put in prison cells with convicted murderers or to have a speedy trial.
Some suggest the 2006 arrests were made because Vicente Fox was about to step down as Mexico's president and he wanted to brag that his administration had apprehended the "ringleaders." Rebecca's supporters believe the fix was in, long before the women's day in court arrived.
Both were convicted last year. Rebecca's attorney said then that the prosecution's entire case was a translation of the U.S. case against Alyn Waage; the women's names were mentioned on just a few pages in 12 boxes of documents.
Rebecca had spent two years in prison, awaiting her trial. A year of that time was spent waiting for the Mexican government to get a statement from Alyn Waage. After Alyn said the women had no knowledge of his scam, the Mexican government would not admit his statements at trial.
Within days of her conviction, the cook was flown in a government jet to Canada. She was released and began negotiating book and movie rights.
Rebecca, with only the support of her ex-husband David Dickinson and her sister, Barbara Roth, remained in prison in Mexico. She appealed. After more than a year of delays, the appeal was denied last month.
"She called me three hours after, after they'd tranquilized her," says Barbara by phone from Mexico. "She had let herself believe if it took this long, they surely were going to let her go.
"Her attorney was absolutely shocked. He said, 'She's completely innocent.' He even went so far as to say this is political."
Rebecca has three choices now: to sit in the Mexican prison for the remaining six years of her term; to arrange for a prisoner transfer to the U.S., sign a paper admitting guilt, perhaps serve many more years in prison (her crime has a longer sentence in the U.S.) and live the rest of her life as a convicted felon; or appeal to a higher court in Mexico.
Rebecca is 51 and in poor health. Unlike Roxana Saberi, Rebecca is not a former Miss America contestant, with connections and a front-page smile.
She lived in Oregon almost all her life until she moved to Mexico in 1999 for health reasons.
"She's an innocent American sitting in a Mexican prison," Barbara says. "And our government won't even acknowledge us. It just doesn't care."
Read Margie's previous columns about Rebecca Roth:
April 27, 2008: Why is a former Lake Oswego woman in a Mexican prison?
May 1, 2008: American still in squalid conditions in Mexican jail
June 1, 2008: She's spent two years in a Mexican prison -- now they want 23 more
Oct. 12, 2008: An ordinary Oregonian in paradise falls into the deep hole they call the Mexican justice system
-- Margie Boule: marboule@aol.com
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