PRD Candidate, Gospel singer "Greg" Sánchez detained for alleged cartel ties

Quintana Roo gubernatorial candidate and Gospel singer Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez was detained May 25 after arriving at the Cancún airport from Mexico City.

A press release from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) said Sánchez, the PRD mayor of Benito Juárez - the municipality containing Cancún - was detained for alleged links to "Los Zetas" and the Beltrán Leyva Cartel and "offering information and protection to them." The press release added the detention was by a judge's order, that he was accused of offenses related to organized crime, drugs and the use of illicit funds and he would be locked up in the western state of Nayarit.

Sánchez would we be the most high-profile politician arrested in the ongoing crackdown on drug cartels and organized crime since Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006.

Ironically, former Quintana Roo Gov. Ernesto Villanueva Madrid was extradited to the United States earlier this month to face drug charges. He allegedly facilitated the passage of cocaine through Quintana Roo in the mid to late 1990s, when he was governor.

A Twitter feed updated by the Sánchez campaign confirmed the dentention and insisted there was no order for his apprehension. One posting on the feed remarked, "They want to commit another 'michoacanazo,'" a reference to the 10 mayors and various public officials arrested in a sweep of Michoacán last May. Many of those arrested were from the left-wing PRD have since been released and were never convicted.

The Sánchez campaign denied the allegations and planned a rally for March 26 in the afternoon. The PRD called the detention politically motivated and said it was carried out so the left doesn't win Quintana Roo, one of Mexico's youngest and fastest growing states.

Sánchez was leading a PRD-PT-Covergence coalition in Quintana Roo and some in the PAN were backing his candidacy, too. At a press conference in Mexico City earlier on May 25, Sánchez and various left-wing party leaders said he was being "politically persecuted."

Sánchez, known in Cancún for his Gospel music career and derided by some critics for allegedly preaching politics from the pulpit, narrowly captured the Benito Juárez mayor's race in what was perhaps the PRD's most notably victory of 2008. He is trailing the PRI in polls for the July 4 gubernatorial election, however.

The mayor had courted controversy for much of 2010. The newspaper La Razón reported in February his brother was giving classes on extortion from behind bars in Mexico City's Reclusorio Norte. In April, the military raid discovered an espionage centre in Cancún with ties to Sánchez. The centre supposedly gathered informtion from phone calls and radio messages on businessmen, political rivals and supposedly journalist Lydia Cacho, longtime Sánchez critic.

Cocaine found in dead Canadian's system

The Canadian Press is reporting that toxicology tests found traces of cocaine in the system of Jeff Toews, the Grande Prairie, Alta. man, who suffered a fatal head injury while vacationing in Mexico last Monday morning. The Cancun hospital that treated Toews carried out the tests.

The family still insists there's a cover up, although their comments at a press conference on Thursday - held prior to the toxicology report being released - were unconvincing. CanWest News Service reports:

"Murray Toews admitted the family has no firm answers about what happened between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Monday, but claimed Mexican authorities were trying to protect their tourism industry in releasing the damaging report."

When in doubt, blame the Mexicans. And since Canadian reporters and editors generally know little about the country - Mexico isn't a priority or interest - they're inclined to run with that narrative. (If I sound bothered by this: I AM.)

So many Canadians are unfairly maligning Mexico these days, but failing to properly scrutinize the reckless and disrespectful behavior of some of their fellow citizens coming down here.

Canadian media stick to script

Yet another Canadian tourist met misfortune in Mexico and once again the Canadian media are all over the story. Jeff Toews, a northern Alberta man, is in a coma after suffering a head injury. The family - and some headline writers - say he was beaten at the Cancun resort where he had been staying. Mexican authorities - the same ones handling the Ianiero case - say otherwise.

A friend of Toews told the Edmonton Journal: "He was on the resort property and somewhere between the nightclub and his room, something happened."

I'd like to know what that something was, too. Did he accidentally fall over the stupidly-low railings that are so common in Mexico? Alcohol? (I must ask.) But since Mexico is involved, there can only be one outcome, right?

Somewhat unbelievably, the same Journal story says of the Thunder Bay women erroneously considered suspects in the Ianiero case by the Quintana Roo attorney general: "The two women have launched a website, http://www.mexicoinjustice.ca/, proclaiming their innocence and lobbying the federal government to ban travel to the Cancun and Mayan Riviera regions." (Emphasis added)

I just returned from a jaunt to Culiacan and Mexico City. Surely those places warrant more of an advisory than Cancun and the Mayan Riviera - even though I've never encountered problems on my eight trips to Mexico City over the past year. Also, aren't Canadians free to travel where they wish?

With the Canadian media these days, the only stories from Mexico that matter involve tourist tragedies. It's as if bad things don't happen back home; is there a sudden lack of crime?

Update: Jeff Toews unfortunately has been declared brain dead. He was flown back to Alberta last night. The family alleges a cover up, something many Canadians are no doubt inclined to believe. And why not? In Quintana Roo, the Cancun police chief is now under investigation for links to narcotics traffickers.

But the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa disputes the Toews' claims. It issued a document detailing what supposedly happened on early Monday morning at the Moon Palace in Cancun. Among other things, the victim had been drinking heavily, according to Mexican authorities.

The fact the Mexicans are taking public relations seriously is a welcome change. Having worked as a journalist in Mexico for more than two years now, I find few people down here understand the concept of publicity or communications, but I digress ...

Some Mexico observers are tiring of this endless barrage of stories on Canadian tourists encountering problems in Mexico. The Mexfiles perhaps sums up the frustration best with this headline: http://mexfiles.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/canadian-press-on-mexico-same-shit-different-day/