CIA Agent or Arms Trafficker?

Andrew Tahmoreesi is a 25-year-old U.S. Marine sergeant who was part of the armed forces that occupied Afghanistan. He later moved to San Diego, California, from where he began to visit Tijuana, where he became involved with a Mexican woman.

In late March of last year he crossed the border in his truck and reserved and paid in cash for a room in the Hotel Nelson. He went to California and came back to Tijuana hours later, but this time the authorities at the El Chaparral border crossing discovered that he was trying to enter with weapons that are supposed to be used exclusively by the Mexican army; he was bringing them within arms reach, loaded and with extra ammunition.

Members of the army supervised the weapons and the arrest. At that point, Inés García, editor of the renowned Zeta newspaper also arrived. The reporter documented the events.

Border cameras recorded multiple entries by the American soldier, as well as the moment when the weapons were detected; he made an emergency phone call to the U.S. 911 saying that he had “crossed the border by accident” and had been detained.

Unfortunately for Tahmoreesi, the Zeta reporter followed the leads and published a report about the sergeant’s frequent visits to Tijuana; she spoke with witnesses who have seen him in the city with his Mexican girlfriend and demonstrated that he had been at the Hotel Nelson and paid for the room hours before he was arrested.

Since his arrest, the sergeant has been treated like a victim, not like an arms trafficker caught in the act. Secretary of State John Kerry and Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are working for his release; they have secured many privileges for him and his family.

If he had been a brown-skinned Mexican soldier by the name of Andres crossing into the U.S. with high-caliber weapons, Clinton and Kerry would have celebrated that the law was being enforced against traffickers.

On July 9, our colleague Inés García was with other reporters at the courthouse, where she was threatened, harassed and hit by Len Newcomb, a California private detective working for the defense with Phil Dunn.

Andrew Tahmooreesi’s attorney is Fernando Benítez, the same attorney who defended Jorge Hank Rhon for weapons possession, and whom the DEA itself has flagged as corrupt. Benítez is an expert at conducting pretrial investigation, manipulates records and has links to Tijuana mafias.

Two things are noteworthy: the first is that according to the Mérida Plan, both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have promoted the strengthening of the rule of law in Mexico; however, they support the release of the soldier through diplomatic pressure.

This is occurring in a context in which friends of the detainee have said in Tijuana that Tahmooreesi works for the CIA and will be rescued from prison (which looks like an empty threat). The second is that Newcomb, the man who threatened, struck and harassed the reporter in front of witnesses, was accompanied by an armed bodyguard who works for the imprisoned soldier’s family.

Inés García documented how the human rights of the detainee were respected; he was even allowed to keep his cellular phone. She has witnessed how Andrew’s mother has been allowed to spend long periods of time alone with her son, an impossible privilege for those accused of serious crimes such as arms trafficking.

It was Inés who documented the soldier’s multiple entries into Tijuana and the hotel reservation, at a time in which the corruption networks of Hank Rhon’s attorney were active in that city. All of this puts Inés’ life in great danger; for that reason human rights and freedom of speech organizations have expressed their solidarity with the reporter.

This case demonstrates again American double standards, as well as intimidation of the press for revealing the truth. I wonder who advises Mrs. Clinton, who is so indignant about Mexican impunity and violence against the press.