Now it's claimed that Brenda Martin remains in a Mexican prison because her former employer, con man Alyn Waage -- currently in a U.S. prison for masterminding a massive Internet fraud scheme -- didn't pay a bribe to a Mexican prosecutor.
According to Waage, Brenda Martin, his one-time chef who has been kept in prison for two years without trial based on charges of money laundering and conspiracy, was arrested simply because he failed to give a senior Mexican prosecutor an expected bribe.
While Waage's claim might seem difficult to comprehend for many Canadians, those who've had any exposure to the less-than-laudable realities of Mexican life won't be unduly surprised by such allegations.
Although much has changed for the better in Mexico since it joined Canada and the U.S. in NAFTA in 1994, corruption, though seemingly diminished in recent years, remains a problem because it has deep historical roots. And it has been exacerbated since the 1970s by the illegal drug trade which has left few sectors of Mexican society immune.
Prior to NAFTA and a dramatic inflow of foreign investment, corruption and kickbacks historically permeated all levels of Mexican society and the authoritarian government infrastructure, often starting within the office of the president and percolating right down to the traffic police extorting motorists on the street.
But despite periodic calls for reforms, Mexico's brand of corruption was reinvigorated like clockwork every six years with the election of a new one-term president who always came from the then ruling party, the Partido
Revolucionario Institucional, PRI. The president and his followers had six years to advance their personal financial interests, which they did with determined dedication, some discreetly, others blatantly.
Some like former President Carlos Salinas's brother, Raul, had direct links with drug kings. He reportedly received over $100 million US in payoffs before Salinas left office in 1994.
The ongoing rule of the PRI -- in power over 70 uninterrupted years until the conservative PAN Party won the presidency in 2000 under
Vicente Fox and again in 2006 under Felipe Calderon -- meant no president or top officials ever had to worry about being prosecuted. This was especially true since many within the legal system, including high-ranking judges, were on the take.
Some enriched themselves quickly because they held important positions in the cabinet or other bodies where their good-will came with a price-tag attached. One president's relative collected a fee for every single bag of cement entering the federal capital region.
No one bothered to ask how a top official or general could live well beyond their apparent income levels, even owning large homes in the U.S. To ensure no such embarrassing questions were ever raised, many journalists received white envelopes of appreciation, helpful to weather occasional scandals.
So notorious were the police, a businessman badly injured in a traffic accident once crawled away out of fear the arriving police would steal the payroll he carried. On a more sinister level, Mexican military officers made airfields available for Colombian drug cartels shipping cocaine to the U.S. Corrupt government agencies sometimes fought over the spoils; on one occasion anti-narcotics agents fought a pitched battle with their own military at a remote airstrip.
In another well-publicized incident in the capital, two police units fought each other for possession of a drug dealer to shake him down. Revealingly, the Mexican general appointed to head former President Zedillo's war on drugs, Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was himself arrested, charged with aiding drug barons.
Corrupt officials have never hesitated to kill anyone probing their illicit activities, including dozens of conscientious journalists, senior prosecutors, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency personnel, plus honest police. (Current president, Felipe Calderon, has even sent in the army in his war against drugs, disarming entire police units in the process.)
While the illicit drug trade clearly continues to dominate the news, other forms of corruption, including bribes to officials -- some within the legal system -- also continue, as do cases of judicial malfeasance, despite the removal of many judges by reform-minded officials.
Prime Minister Harper maintains that he does not have the right to interfere in what he describes as a domestic legal matter in another country.
However, it's clear that given the quite extraordinary powers still granted a Mexican president, Felipe Calderon himself has the ability to do something in the case of Brenda Martin if he believes it's becoming a serious political issue, threatening to undermine important Mexican interests, including harm to Mexico's all-important tourism trade with Canada.
Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator.
He served in Mexico.Calgary Herald
