The man accused of killing Fernando Marti thanks to El Economista
Before I made plans to come to Mexico I was as aware as everyone else of the high amount of kidnappings in Mexico City, so I decided that even though we would have to fly into Mexico City we would get out as soon as possible on the next bus or plane to another part of the country. Being a huge fan of Denzel Washington I have seen ‘Man on Fire’ and was filled with terror at the thought of worst case scenarios.
However I changed my mind as we wanted to spend a few months in one place in Mexico and after doing a few hours of research Mexico City seemed to be the best choice. First of all I am Jewish and though I don’t practice it, Katie really enjoys the holidays and festivals and Mexico City has the third largest Jewish community in Latin America and a very active community at that. Also, although we came here with the intention of learning Spanish we wanted somewhere that also had an ex-pat community, there are several of these all over Mexico, but a lot of them are mainly made up of retired Americans. Mexico City has a lot of international workers so there is an ex-pat community of people around my age. There are also the numerous benefits that living in a capital city brings, such as employment, there are more English language schools here than anywhere else in Mexico, there are also more people looking for private lessons and also, there are more activities for children, which is ideal for Katie.
So with some nerves and apprehension I decided to find accommodation to rent for a month or two in Mexico City. But not without a certain amount of paranoia! I have a blue strap that I used with Katie when she was a toddler, that fastens round her wrist and then attaches to my wrist, so she was free to walk but prevented us from getting separated or allowing her to run off and wander too far. I packed this when we set off travelling thinking it would come in handy in busy markets and bus stations with lots of pushing a jostling so I didn’t have to worry about losing her. We haven’t had the need to use it yet but I thought that once we got to Mexico City we would use it all the time, just in case she was an attractive target for would be kidnappers with her blonde hair and blue eyes.
I know I have done Mexico City an injustice as this was the only pre-conception I had before arriving, yet once I arrived, the reality has been so much different. Yes, there have been an awful lot of kidnappings and the children of wealthy business people and of foreigners and this can not be denied nor ignored.
We have been here nearly two weeks now and though I am as cautious and I watch Katie as hawkishly as I have done everywhere else, we have seen very little that gives substance to my previous fears. People here have been overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming but the current reality of Mexico’s fight against gangs who kidnap for millions of dollars and the ongoing battle against the drug war has not been that far away.
Last weekend while driving through Mexico City we happened upon a huge demonstration about the assassination of a wealthy family from the northern part of Mexico who had made a stand against drug runners in their area and worked together with the police. In retaliation members of a drug gang killed the entire family. That battle was lost, but the war is still going on.
Last August, in Mexico City, the bullet riddled body of Fernando Martí was found in the trunk of a stolen car. He was the fourteen year old son of a wealthy sports chain owner who was killed even after his family paid the requested millions of dollars ransom.
The police found two gangs guilty of working together in the kidnapping, the La Flor gang and the Petricolet gangs. The Petricolet has been linked to another 23 kidnappings, usually capturing their victims by setting up fake police checkpoints and then drugging the victims’ food and strangling them, then dumping the bodies in stolen cars.
The abduction and subsequent murder of Fernando Martí led to huge marches and protests across Mexico against crime. In a country where the population has little faith in a police force that is largely believed to be corrupt, people seem to take out their own form of retribution.
A friend here told me the story of the sister of a friend of hers. She was brutally beaten up by her ex-boyfriend and his father but because of police corruption and the belief that nothing would come of reporting the assault to the police they didn’t bother going to the police, instead the male members of her family dished out their own punishment to the x-boyfriend and his father.
It’s a dark side to a country where we have found so much pleasure and happiness.
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Tags: fernando marti, kidnappings, Mexico, Mexico City
