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 News from Around the Americas | March 2008 
Martin's Plight Taking Toll on Her Mother
 W. Brice McVicar - The Intelligencer
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| | Marjorie Bletcher (The Toronto Star) | | |
Brenda Martin's pleas for assistance and her insistence that she will take her own life if not freed from her Mexican prison are taking a toll on her mother.
Marjorie Bletcher, 69, told The Intelligencer Friday that she is trying to remain optimistic about Martin's freedom but hates to hear her daughter's threats of suicide. Earlier this week Martin said she will take her own life if she's not released by Sunday from the Mexican jail she has called home for more than two years.
Bletcher, who lives in Trenton, said she's not sure if Martin would commit suicide.
"I hope not, but every time I talk to her she's so down," Bletcher said. "I'm feeling a little bit more optimistic but I've been hopeful before and nothing's happened. I just worry because she's getting so down."
Bletcher said her optimism stems from the recent national media attention her daughter's case has been receiving. Major news channels, newspapers and radio broadcasts have put the spotlight on Martin and have added pressure to the Canadian government to intervene.
Earlier this week Canada sent a diplomatic note of protest to Mexico and Northumberland-Quinte West MP Rick Norlock spoke with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the matter.
Bletcher said she is just hoping the media attention continues and results in her daughter returning to Canada.
"I just want her home. The media's been so good and to see the government doing all of this ... I hope it works," she said.
Martin's case is expected to get more attention later this month when a rally is scheduled to take place in Ottawa. Organizers behind the Save Brenda Martin fund - Paul Macklin and Peter Cleary - are organizing the event which will begin at 2 p.m. on March 29 in front of the parliament buildings.
Cleary said he has been working with Macklin for the past year and a public display of support for Martin in front of the parliament buildings seemed a natural progression.
"We've been doing fundraising and organizing support for over a year now and this is the next step," Cleary, a third-year political studies student at the University of Ottawa, said "Now that the national media's jumped on we're hoping it will go well."
Cleary said he wishes the rally could have been organized earlier but it takes planning so the date was chosen for the end of this month. He said he is trying to spread the word through the www.savebrendafund.ca web site and by using the Internet social networking site Facebook.
"We're trying to gather as many people as possible. We've already invited over 3,000 people however not everyone we've invited lives in Ottawa, they're all over Canada," Cleary said. "We're in the very early stages even though we're only two weeks away."
Cleary said he hopes the rally will raise awareness and prompt the Canadian government to take action. A message needs to be sent to Ottawa that Canadians are concerned and want Martin to come home, he said.
"The government needs to intervene. The lawyers are trying to go through the judicial system and, as we all know, that's not going well," he said. "This will be a message from the people. It's people standing up for Brenda."
Martin was employed as a chef for a former Albertan, Alyn Richard Waage, in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months in 2001. Waage was operating an Internet fraud scheme at the time though he pretended to be an investor. He was eventually arrested and is serving a 10-year sentence in an American jail.
Through further investigation Mexican officials came to believe Martin was also involved in the scheme. She was charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy.
Despite a sworn affidavit provided by Waage saying Martin had no knowledge of his operations and her own continued profession of innocence Martin has remained in jail since Feb. 17, 2006.
bmcvicar(at)intelligencer.ca |
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