10/03/2009 / MEXICO
My name is Cristina Rios Valladares and I was the victim of a kidnapping along with my husband Raul (who was released after a few hours in order to get ransom money) and son, who was 11 at the time. From 19 October to 9 December 2005 we went through an ordeal that changed our lives forever. Since then we've been forced to live abroad through fear of reprisals from group members who still walk free. My family remains devastated. We were held in captivity for 52 days in which I was sexually abused. All three of us were put through extreme psychological torture.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is a rightwing neo-populist. In face of his inability to sort out France's real problems, he's become an expert in public distraction, with Cassez's case the latest to date. (...) Personally I don't think Felipe Calderon [Mexican president] is stupid enough to fall for his soap opera pleas. We'll tell him, in the most diplomatic manner, ‘We're terribly sorry President Sarkozy, but with this case, just f*** off'!"
For the Mexicans, Cassez is a criminal and Sarkozy a hypocrite
Police photos of Florence Cassez when she was arrested in December 2005.
Both the press and politicians in France have come to the defence of a French woman condemned to sixty years of jail in Mexico for kidnapping charges. Former victims of the crime however see the accused in a much darker light.
Found guilty of kidnapping and carrying arms, 34-year-old Florence Cassez was sentenced to 60 years in prison by a Mexican court. The French citizen however, insists that she's innocent. Her defenders call on case irregularities and contradictions in the witness statements. Even President Nicolas Sarkozy has demanded her return to France to serve out her sentence - something which has outraged the Mexican public, especially victims of the criminal gang which Cassez was supposedly part of. For them, there's no doubt that the former girlfriend of ringleader Israel Vallarta is guilty.
Contributors
How does a kidnapping work in Mexico?
This CCTV footage, broadcast by Mexican TV channels and websites, shows a kidnapping carried out by the gang "Los Gaseros", today disbanded. The commentary explains that three men get out off a supposed taxi and hold up the victim outside his door. An accomplice, driving a cement mixer, then blocks the road, while another arrives in a grey car. They put the victim in the trunk along with one of his kidnappers. The operation is over in under ten seconds.
In league with Iraq and Colombia, Mexico is considered one of the places where kidnap is most likely to happen.
"I remember her voice; it still haunts me"
Extract of an open letter from Cristina Rios Valladares, who was kidnapped and held by the Zodiac gang, which Cassez is accused of being a part of:
My name is Cristina Rios Valladares and I was the victim of a kidnapping along with my husband Raul (who was released after a few hours in order to get ransom money) and son, who was 11 at the time. From 19 October to 9 December 2005 we went through an ordeal that changed our lives forever. Since then we've been forced to live abroad through fear of reprisals from group members who still walk free. My family remains devastated. We were held in captivity for 52 days in which I was sexually abused. All three of us were put through extreme psychological torture. On 9 December we were liberated by the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI). Israel Vallarta and Florence Cassez were arrested and then charged with holding us. Florence, from France, presented herself as a victim in the case, not an accomplice.
While we heard of the news of Cassez's sentencing from our hideout (we can't call a place where you're constrained to live through fear a home), we also heard her claim innocence, with the very same voice with which I heard numerous times during my detention. That French accent which still echoes in my mind today. The voice which my son identifies as that which belongs to the woman who drew blood from him in order to send it, along with a human ear, supposed to be my son's, to my husband.
When I hear her cry innocence, I remember a voice twisted with rage and jealousy, shouting that if I ever touched her lover, ringleader Israel Vallarta again, (she walked in on him molesting me), then I'd pay for it in person."
"Sarkozy's trying to distract the public"
Political blogger Emiliano Crespo is urging his government not to give in to the French president's demands of extradition.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is a rightwing neo-populist. In face of his inability to sort out France's real problems, he's become an expert in public distraction, with Cassez's case the latest to date. (...) Personally I don't think Felipe Calderon [Mexican president] is stupid enough to fall for his soap opera pleas. We'll tell him, in the most diplomatic manner, ‘We're terribly sorry President Sarkozy, but with this case, just f*** off'!"
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Comments
Florence Cassez, victim of Mexican injustice
Submitted by Gabriel Infante on Wed, 25/03/2009 - 22:22.The Observer has posted another piece of Florence Cassez case, written by me. Just click on the following Url:
http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090325-florence-cassez-victim....
And feel free to leave a comment.
Gabriel Infante
Degree in Broadcasting Comunication and Journalism
Gabriel Infante
A crime and a truth
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sun, 15/03/2009 - 20:19.Well, I am a businessman without any partial objective, but when I read a coment from Gabriel the journalist it seems to me that he has some problem with Genaro Garcia Luna the person that rules police and investigations in Mexico, because he just try to discredit that person instead of talking about the kidnaping, the criminal band, the letter from the victims, the recognition from the victims, the facts and everything that shows the delictive conduct, the crime and that is real truth.
There are very good journalists but there are also bad journalists in Mexico that sells themselves and "say a lie a thousand times" to try to misinform people. Please stay focus on the facts an victims who these are real ones and do not live by being actresses lie the one you are also mentioning.
Stay focus and just watch the face of Lady Cassez and you will find the truth.
Unregistered user
without
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Fri, 10/04/2009 - 14:20.without any partial objective, but when I read a coment from Gabriel the journalist it seems to me that he has some problem with Genaro Garcia Luna the person that rules police and investigations in Mexico, because he just try to discredit that person instead of talking about the kidnaping, the criminal band, the letter from the victims, the recognition from the victims, the facts and everything that shows the delictive conduct, the crime and that is real truth.
Unregistered user
I just want to clarify
Submitted by Gabriel Infante on Mon, 16/03/2009 - 20:11.I just want to clarify something. Many of the things that I am pointing out in my comments are base on reliable facts. The transcript that I posted are found in the recent book by Anabel Hernández (National Journalism Award 2002), "Los cómplices del presidente". Genaro García Luna has been accused of having links to drug cartels and gives protection to organized crime according to the Minister of Defense, Guillermo Galvan Galvan and by the former Regional Coordinator of the Federal Preventive Police, Javier Herrera Valle, which he sent two letters to President Calderón, with documents proving this. Now he is paying a very high price for doing that, he is arrested in a high security prison in Nayarit accused to have links with drug cartels.
What I am trying to point out with this transcription, is just an example that the AFI and Mexican police do this type of dishonest practices. This information is in the reach of everyone, but the mexican society seems to be indifferent to know this type of information.
I must say that I am the first to be against misinforming the public opinion, that is why I think that it is important that everyone know these facts. And if I would be saying lies as you recall I wouldn't even bother to mention my sources, cause I would have them.
I know that in Mexico, to be an "honorable" journalist, I have to speak in favor of the goverment and ignore the corruption and dishonest practice of our goverments oficials and politicians. I rather be independent journalist then a honorable one.
Best regards,
Gabriel Infante
Degree in Broadcasting Comunication and Journalism
Gabriel Infante
Gabriel, I agree with you.
Submitted by un lector (not verified) on Tue, 17/03/2009 - 07:03.Gabriel, I agree with you. We can´t belive what our govern or news reports tell us in México because they usually lie to us.
It´s easy to condemn Florence and say she is guilty because they have tell us she is and perhaps we will never know the truth in this case (as in many others too) and about a bounch of things that are going very wrong in our country.
Just because we heard that García Luna, Calderón, or the TV tell us she is guilty certanly is not enough and certainly does not prove anything.
I as a mexican citizen would like justice to be done, but with the manipulated evidence of the case and our currupted "Justice System" I also prefer to let a chance that she could be telling the truth.
If you are a journalist I congratulate you for being objective as a journalist should be...!
Unregistered user
Feedback to un lector
Submitted by Gabriel Infante on Tue, 17/03/2009 - 08:49.Thank you for your comment. I have a degree in Broadcasting Comunication and journalism. I think that is important to point out these facts and give the profile of who is in charge of the federal police and public security in Mexico, with the aim of a more comprehensive understanding on this particular case.
Best regards,
Gabriel Infante
Degree in Broadcasting Comunication and Journalism
http://www.equisy.blogspot.com
Gabriel Infante
Testemony:AFI pressured victims to incriminate falsely.
Submitted by Gabriel Infante (not verified) on Fri, 13/03/2009 - 07:16.The following is a transcript of Anabel Hernandez book, “Los cómplices del presidente," published in November 2008, where it narrates that the sisters of Mexican singer and actress, Thalia were pressured by the Federal Agency of Investigation to identify Alberto Bayardo as one of their kidnappers. They were abducted on September 22, 2002.
The testimony is told by Jose Antonio Ortega, a criminal lawyer who is dedicated to defense victims of crime. He is currently president of the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice. He recently published a book title “El secuestro en México” The kidnapping in México.
"On August 4, 2005 the Federal Investigation Agency arrested the Gang of Bayardo, who also allegedly stated that they had kidnapped the sisters of Thalia. Laura went to the house where the kidnappers were arrested together with the director of the AFI, Genaro Garcia Luna, and the president of Mexico Unido contra la Delincuencia (civil organization), María Elena Morera, an unconditional of García Luna.
Garcia Luna that day set up his sketch. Not for nothing has earned the nickname of the Screenwriter. The house was open to the media and reporters were allowed to touch and poke at the belongings of the suspected kidnappers. Actress Laura Zapata said she fully recognized the house.
I only knew that after the issue, that Ernestina Sodi was assisting to my council, she was a very simple and pleasant lady, and one day she told me that she had been summoned along with her sister to identify the son of Bayardo, Alberto Bayardo, and she didn’t identify him, had never seen him, nor recognized his voice, and recognized the house where she was taken. So [that] was a brutal pressure of the AFI to recognize the son of Bayardo as one of their abductors. Inclusive she even got mad with her sister by bowing to pressure and accept that Bayardo as one of their captors, says the president of the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice.
"[Laura] did it without been sure, by the pressure exerted by the AFI against the two to involved him in their abduction.
"Ernestine told me: 'They took me to a diligence to identify the son of Bayardo, a home where I was kidnapped, and I did not recognized it, and I even had friction with them, because the pressured was on me. What angered me the most was that my sister Laura did accept it, because she got scared '. [...] " Pages 216-217" Los cómplices del presidente” by Anabel Hernández, México 2008.
This transcript I qouted as part of a post on my blog related to Florence Cassez case, title "Genaro García Luna and his justice"
http://equisy.blogspot.com/2009/03/genaro-garcia-luna-y-su-justicia.html
Unregistered user
Keep her Mexico
Submitted by Fernandez (not verified) on Wed, 11/03/2009 - 07:14.If she were 'to serve out her sentence in France', she'd be out in a week or two. When the Kiwis transferred the Rainbow Warrior murderers to France, they served a pittance of their sentence and were released. Really, how long before Carla Bruni personally tells her she can go free for humanitarian reasons?
Keep her locked up, Mexico. She committed crimes against your people. Don't let Sarkozy use this phoney 'rescue' to bolster his political hopes.
Unregistered user
Florence Cassez case.
Submitted by Gabriel Infante (not verified) on Wed, 11/03/2009 - 05:51.Hi, I am a mexican political blogger. I give the benifit of the doubt to Florence Cassez, basically because her detention was a montage pull off by the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) and his director back then, Genaro García Luna, which is now Secretary of public Security, his in charge of the Federal Police. Recently a best selling book title "Los Cómplice del Presidente" written by the journalist Anabel Hernández (2002 National journalism Award)revealed that García Luna gives protection and has links with the organized crime. This book is well documented and has reliable sources which prove this. The Mexican Armed Forces doesn't trust him and Javier Herrera Valle, former regional coordinator of the Preventive Federal Police (PFP) is jailed in a high security jail in the Mexican state of Nayarit, after he send two letters to president Calderón pointing out Genaro García Luna links to drug cartels and giving protection to kidnapping gangs;he then was accused to have links with the drug cartels. The journalist Anabel Hernández, points out that the AFI and Genaro García Luna have been behind in some kidnapping, like the case of two sisters of the Mexican singer and actress Thalía.
Mexico is not a rule of law state, our institutions including the ones who has the task to impart justice are corrupt. The way the García Luna operates is to make montage similar to the one Florence Cassez detiention, to make believe the Mexican society that he is giving results and to push his political career.
Anyone in Mexico has the risk to be detaine and accused to be a member of a drug cartel or a kindnapping gang. The war against the orgnized crime of Presidente Calderón, unfortunately is not that all sincere.
In my point of view, Florence Cassez will be better off in France.
Gabriel Infante Carrillo
Degree in Broadcasting Comunication and Journalism
Webpage: http://www.equisy.blogspot.com
Unregistered user