Borderland Beat by DD with material from Reforma, el Universal, and Borderland Beat archives
Maycotte Monica Jurado, former daughter in law of Vicente Fox, was kidnapped Wednesday morning (Wed. 4/29) in San Miguel de Allende, federal security sources confirmed on Thursday.
Early reports indicate that the abduction occurred after she left her daughters at the school José Vasconcelos, in that municipality.
Monica, ex-wife of Manuel Bribiesca, son of Marta Sahagun and stepson of former President Fox, was traveling in a van and was intercepted by another vehicle while driving down the street Camino Real de Queretaro.
Federal and Guanajuato government sources said the kidnapping might have involved a well-organized high level.gang.
One hypothesis is that it would be the same group that kidnapped Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, in May 2010, in the State of Queretaro and businessman Eduardo Garcia Valseca, in 2007, also in San Miguel de Allende.
Early reports indicate that the abduction occurred after she left her daughters at the school José Vasconcelos, in that municipality.
Monica, ex-wife of Manuel Bribiesca, son of Marta Sahagun and stepson of former President Fox, was traveling in a van and was intercepted by another vehicle while driving down the street Camino Real de Queretaro.
Federal and Guanajuato government sources said the kidnapping might have involved a well-organized high level.gang.
One hypothesis is that it would be the same group that kidnapped Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, in May 2010, in the State of Queretaro and businessman Eduardo Garcia Valseca, in 2007, also in San Miguel de Allende.
There are not many other details available at this point. The first press reports of the kidnapping were published early today in smaller regional news media. We searched for more details and later in the day the major media outlets started reporting it, but basically the exact same story above. There was one report that her ex-husband said he had asked the PGR to join the state police in investigating her abduction.
There are no reports or explanations who posited or why the hypothesis that the kidnappers might be the same group that in 2010 kidnapped Diego Fernandez, a high ranking PAN politician and former Presidential candidate or the kidnapping of Eduardo Garcia Valseca in 2007.
Those were probably the highest profile kidnapping cases in Mexico until the abduction of the 43 students in Iguala last Sept.
If it is in fact the same group, there is a good possibility that Monica will be returned alive after a ransom is paid. But she probably faces a long grueling ordeal until then.
Readers of Borderland Beat are familiar with the kidnapping of the 43 students from Igual, but may not be so familiar with the other 2 high profile kidnappings referred to above. So here is a quick look at them.
Borderland Beat covered the kidnapping and release of Diego Fernandez de Cevallos in several stories. From his disappearance to his release. He was held for 7 months until his family paid a ransom of $30 million dollars. His captors were never caught and "el jefe Diego" never released any information about his captors. In fact after his release he said; ""As far as the kidnappers are concerned, as a man of faith I have forgiven (them)," he said, looking fit as he stood in a gray sweat shirt and pants outside his luxurious Mexico City home. "As a citizen, I think that the authorities have some work to do."
The kidnappers had demanded 100 million dollars ransom, but Diego handled the negotiations him self and got them to agree to $30 Million
A week after he was taken, his family released a statement to the news media asking authorities to "stay out of this process in order to help the negotiation." After that there was very little hard news on Diego's kidnapping until he was released.
There were a lot of theories and rumors that abounded, ranging from a report that Zapatistas EZLN were responsible to a claim that the Sinaloa cadrtel and Chapo Guzman were responsible. That claim was based on a rumor that Nacho Coronel had been arrested by federal authorities (this was before Nacho was killed in July 2010) and they wanted to use "el Jefe Diego" in a swap to get Coronel released.
The case rocked Mexico. Calderon delayed his trip to Spain trying to analyze and figure out what to do with the disappearance of Diego Fernandez Cevallos EPN left the country on a trip to England shortly after the 43 students were kidnapped.
The kidnapping of Eduardo Valseca was in 2007, before Borderland Beat was created by Buggs, so we have no stories in our archives about him. But the Washington Post has an excellent long story by David Montgomery about that horrible ordeal.
Valseca was the son of a Mexico newspaper baron. He and his wife (from Bethesda Md.) and their 3 kids lived on a ranch outside the picturesque Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. On a June morning in 2007, they had just dropped the kids off at the bilingual Waldorf school they had founded and were returning to the ranch on the narrow dirt leading to their home.This normal day ends and another kind of Mexican normal intrudes. It takes seconds, a precision routine perfected in recent years. A white SUV appears in front of the jeep, going in the same direction on the narrow lane. Its driver slams on the brakes. A blue pickup behind the jeep rams it into the SUV.
Men with handguns swarm the jeep, smashing the windows, hauling the couple out. Eduardo gets cracked on the head and bleeds.
Jayne, now 49, was freed that first morning. Eduardo, now 66, spent 7 1/2 months in a tiny, filthy box. The couple decline to say exactly how much ransom was paid, for fear of future extortion attempts. They say it was less than $1 million. The kidnappers had demanded $8 million.
Eduardo weighed about 160 pounds when he was kidnapped. He came home weighing about 90, with two gunshot wounds, three broken ribs and other ailments.
He didn't talk about his experience for over a year, then agreed to meet with the reporter with the Washington Post Eduardo had assembled the 30 e-mails sent by the kidnappers, the handwritten notes scrawled by Eduardo to Jayne, the photos of Eduardo, emaciated and bleeding in his cell, which the kidnappers e-mailed to Jayne.
It's the first time Eduardo has seen the pictures, read the e-mails. He pores over the images with a magnifying glass, searching for hidden clues, deeper meaning. He sees a stranger, a man with no hope. "It looks like a dead person," he says
The bloody bullet holes in his left arm and leg are easy to see. The kidnappers told him in advance which days he would be shot, and they were punctual. They would drape the cell in white sheets like a photo studio.The photos were used to prompt the payment of the ransom by his family.
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| After Eduardo's release, he and Jayne left Mexico and returned to the United States with their children: Emiliano (in Eduardo's lap), Naya (far left), and Fernando. (Sarah L. Voisin - The Washington Post) |
For the rest of the story, go to the link above for the full Washington Post story
There are some similarities to Monica's kidnapping and both of the above. She is from a high profile political family similar to Diego. She was kidnapped after dropping her kids off at school. But until more facts surface about he kidnapping, I think it is to early to say it was the same kidnapping gang.
There are other aspects of her life that need further investigation. Her ex-husband Manuel Bribiesca was investigated in 2005 and 2006 for influence peddling in the Ocianic scandal. He and his brother Jorge Alberto Bribiesca Sahagun, were allegedly serving as "coyotes" of Oceanography to win contracts from Pemex , Pemex entered into agreements with the shipping company for about $345 million during the administration of Fox.
Monica ended her marriage to Manuel Bribiesca in Feb. 2006 because the storm that was then brewing over the scandal concerning his alleged influence peddling in the Oceanic scandal. Her atty said the divorce did not involve "patrimonial" (who gets what), but how to distance herself from her husbands business and the investigation. Her name was shown as a partner on the charter of 2 of his companies. But she said she had nothing to do with the business and the atty said when he asked her why papers she signed, she said "no se".
Like a good Mexican wife, she didn't question her husband when he gave her papers to sign and told her "its just business".
A court later found there was no evidence to support the potential charges against Manuel.
Although there is no evidence that Manuel Bribiesca's younger brother, Fernando Bribiesca, was involved in the Oceanic scandal and he was not investigated for wrongdoing, he is now the current candidate for the PRI-Green-New Partnership for mayor of Celaya. Ironically he, as the candidate of the PRI-Green-Honeycomb, Fernando Bribiesca, accuses the mayor Ismael Perez of giving public works and service contracts to friends and family.
Alejandro Gonzalez Salazar, member of the Youth Network for Mexico's PRI and the campaign of the candidate of the PRI-Green-Honeycomb mayor of Celaya, Fernando Bribiesca, has been missing since April 11th
he Municipal Police Juventino Rosas found charred vehicle Alejandro Gonzalez Salazar, 28,
he Municipal Police Juventino Rosas found charred vehicle Alejandro Gonzalez Salazar, 28,
The car, a Volkswagen Jetta, was found Wednesday afternoon on the outskirts of El Romerillo community, officials of the Attorney General of the State under Zone .
After examining the wreckage, it was determined Jetta with GMT-1704 boards on which was last seen González Salazar who continues as disappeared.
On the night of April 11, Alexander attended a party in which he left Villagrán unknown destination; his family and friends have not seen.
I hope we don't have to wait 7 months to see Monica again (as with Diego and Eduardo), but we may never know if the kidnapping was just for money, politically motivated or a vendetta against the Fox family.
PS I apologize for not having a photo of Monica. I must have looked at a 1000 photos of Fox and Family, did photo searches in her name and could not find one that I was comfortable in saying it was her. If a reader finds one, send it to me by email at Borderland Beat or to Chivis and we will post it