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Dec-21-2012 12:09printcomments

Decorated Marine to Be Released Today from Mexican Prison

Hammar's attorney Eddie Varon Levy plans to fly to Mexico City today to pick his client up.

Jon Hammar in a Mexican high-security prison about 15 miles south of the U.S. border
Jon Hammar in a Mexican high-security prison about 15 miles south of the U.S. border. Photo: Olivia Hammar

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - Marine veteran Jon Hammar, jailed in Mexico for carrying a shotgun across the border is expected to be released today, according to his lawyer.

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U.S. Senator Bill Nelson reportedly received word that the Mexican attorney general's office planned to release.

"No American should be in a Mexican jail for five months without being able to have his case in front of a judge," Senator Nelson said. "We're grateful, this is a good Christmas present."

Hammar's attorney Eddie Varon Levy plans to fly to Mexico City today to pick his client up[1].

Marines have been paying the price for the 'Fast and Furious' gunrunning fiasco carried out under the watch of both U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama.

First, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, a former U.S. Marine, is gunned down with a weapon supplied to a Mexican cartel by the U.S. government, and now John Hammar, an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran Marine, is rotting away in a Mexican jail because he attempted to legally declare an antique shotgun that belonged to his grandfather, which had a barrel one inch too short to clear the hurdles of Mexico's Napoleonic law.

Hammar served in Iraq and Afghanistan

Hammar's trouble began when he and a friend set out to visit Costa Rica for a summertime surfing trip. His good conscience in trying to legally declare the weapon he carried properly, brought no grace at all. Jon Hammar suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from his wartime service and the trip down south was supposed to be something to help him in these difficult days. Nobody had any idea that the outcome would be so threatening or dire.

This veteran was chained to a jail bed for months after he was arrested by Mexican authorities, and the Obama administration showed little apparent will to want to help this American[2].

Thursday, two Republican congressmen called for a national travel boycott of Mexico until Marine Jon Hammar is released. They asked "all Americans" to join the campaign for the war veteran's freedom.

The statements to boycott Mexico came from Reps. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. -- both Marine combat veterans. They were two voices among dozens of lawmakers who pressed the Obama administration to petition more aggressively for Hammar's release[3].

Things were complicated for this man who served his country honorably as he is caught up in an international political maelstrom. To many Mexicans today, Americans represent great negativity; a big drug appetite and a government willing to place weapons directly into the hands of the deadliest people alive. While we lament the deaths of two U.S. federal agents, Mexico mourns the loss of tens of thousands.

Knight Ridder news reports that Hammar's mother, Olivia, received the letter from the Mexican ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukban.

As you know well, Mexico has had very stringent gun-control laws in place for many years, and has reinforced their application as a result of the flow of weapons illicitly purchased in the U.S., and then trafficked into Mexico and into the hands of Transnational Criminal Organizations. Mr. Hammar was arrested for the possession of a weapon that according to Federal Law in Mexico is restricted for the exclusive use of the Mexican Armed Forces.
- Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican ambassador to the U.S.

Jon Hammar was facing a 15 year sentence for a weapon one-inch too short, and since the U.S. govt. had signed off on the weapon and reportedly implied that there would be no problem, it seems almost like a conspiracy, where the U.S. Customs officials provided bad information about one of the most serious subjects.

His next court date is January 17[4].

[1] Marine veteran FREED in time for Christmas after spending four months chained in high-security Mexico prison

[2] Obama Ignores Ex-Marine Wrongly Held In Mexican Jail - INVESTORS.com

[3] Reps call for national travel boycott of Mexico over jailed Marine -foxnews.com

[4] Letter from Mexican ambassador dampens hope for early release of Jon Hammar - foxnews.com

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Photo by Justin King

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)

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Americans for a Stronger Israel

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Anonymous December 21, 2012 5:21 pm (Pacific time)

It's time to cut off all ties to Mexico. Include to build a wall as a border with snipers and I attack dogs. Then throw out every illegal and their kids and get our Country back from these low life criminals

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