Family Agonizes Over Son Kidnapped in Tijuana
... Father doubts Story of TJ Police, me too. I feel real bad for this family- yes, the kid shouldn't have been driving around TJ late night in a
2002 benz- no matter what the ownership arrangement was. The troubling part was the pain the family is going through. They had no one to turn to and
not even close to $1 Million for ransom. When you think the police are involved, who can you call for help? He probably shouldn't have strung the
kidnappers along with a promise to pay if he couldn't. But what other choice did he have? I hope he gets all his co-workers at the Hotel Del to
protest on the US side of the border for his return. No one on this side feels safe enough to speak out. The worse part is the father thinking his
son was probably dead already and the body in an acid bath. He knows what the narcos are capable of.
In Today's Union Tribune...
"Angel Sanchez Perez envisions his son every time a kitchen helper passes by pushing a tray cart at the Hotel del Coronado.
He and his son, Guillermo Sanchez Lavenant, worked together at the hotel, father as a maintenance technician and son in the kitchen, until April 18.
That weekend, the 19-year old was kidnapped in Tijuana, about six miles from the family's home.
"That's what hurts me the most," Sanchez said. "I see these workers and I see him.
He wore the same uniform and pushed those carts, as well." In his quest to find his son, Sanchez has posted fliers on both sides of the border and is
speaking publicly about the kidnapping even if it places him in danger. Many of the gangs that kidnap are ruthless in their demands for money.
Kidnapping for ransom has increased in Tijuana as authorities have cracked down on drug smugglers. The situation has caused people to leave the city
for safer places to live. Sanchez has moved his family to North County while he seeks answers.
"Whenever I heard about kidnappings, I used to think to myself: 'He must have done something.' I never worried about it because I've dedicated myself
to my work and being with my family," Sanchez said.
Several calls made to the family's home two days after the kidnapping demanded up to $1 million for Guillermo Sanchez's safe return. The calls stopped
April 24, Angel Sanchez said.
With no sign of his son, Sanchez concedes that it is possible he has been killed and perhaps even that his body has been dissolved in a vat of acid,
as some kidnappers are said to do to victims.
When the family nightmare began, Guillermo Sanchez and one of his brothers were driving in Tijuana in a 2002 Mercedes-Benz with tinted windows. That
was not a sign of wealth, their father said.
“I think the people who took my son made a mistake,” he said. “We don't have any money.”
When living in Tijuana, Angel Sanchez would wake up at 3 a.m. Sunday through Thursday to cross the border to work in Coronado. He told the kidnappers
he'd get the money with hopes that they'd keep his son alive even though he didn't have the cash.
“It's a feeling of anger and frustration,” Sanchez said.
Although the hours were exhausting, Sanchez said the one-hour commute from Tijuana was the only way to live. The father of 10 said providing for a
large family is nearly impossible north of the border. He is a legal U.S. resident and his wife and children are U.S. citizens, he said.
The U.S. Consulate and authorities in Tijuana confirmed Guillermo Sanchez's kidnapping. The FBI declined to confirm if it is investigating the case.
Between Oct. 1, 2007, and May 23, the San Diego office of the FBI received reports of 16 kidnappings of U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents in
Tijuana and in San Diego and Imperial counties, said FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth. Some victims have been found safe, though Foxworth declined to
say how many.
Most victims have connections or family on both sides of the border. Many are targeted because kidnappers think they can pay a substantial ransom.
Baja California officials reported 22 kidnappings in Tijuana this year through April. Authorities in both countries said statistics are misleading
because not all kidnappings are reported. Family members sometimes are reluctant to do so because they don't trust police in Mexico or fear the FBI's
involvement could put their loved ones in danger.
Sanchez said the reason his son was targeted remains a mystery.
“My son wasn't into anything bad. His routine was to finish work and go spend time with his girlfriend,” he said.
Sanchez said he suspects authorities in Tijuana are involved in his son's disappearance.
A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office in Tijuana said an investigation is open but declined to comment further.
A news release from Tijuana's Secretariat of Public Safety said Guillermo Sanchez and his 22-year-old brother, Victor Adrian, were driving the
Mercedes-Benz early April 18. Angel Sanchez said the car was registered to him, but Victor, also a maintenance technician, worked to make the payments
on the vehicle because it was so important to him.
Police said the car was speeding and violating traffic rules. In a statement released to news media, Tijuana police said one of the brothers lifted
his sweat shirt and displayed a 9 mm handgun during the stop. The siblings were turned over to federal police.
Sanchez doesn't believe that is what happened.
The brothers had gone out with friends that night and were going home, Sanchez said.
“Police stopped them for no reason,” he said. “They searched the car and suddenly pulled out a firearm. They (the police) wanted money.”
Guillermo Sanchez, who was the passenger, was the first to be let go, 48 hours after being detained.
He phoned his family to say he was on his way home in a taxi. About a block from the police station where he was released, a group of men with assault
rifles surrounded the taxi and forced Guillermo Sanchez out, his father said.
Family members waited for more than an hour for him to get home before they started to worry. The other brother, Victor, was subsequently released on
bond.
The family believes police are involved because only they knew what time Guillermo Sanchez would be released.
Miguel Angel Lavenant, the eldest son in the family, was at a loss for answers. He said he was jailed in 2001 in connection with a homicide in Tijuana
and released five months later. Lavenant said he filed a complaint against authorities, and the case closed in 2002. That could not be independently
corroborated with Mexican authorities.
Lavenant said he and his family have no ties to kidnappers or crime rings in Tijuana.
“If I had those connections, I wouldn't be here or I'd be dead,” Lavenant said.
The publicity surrounding Guillermo Sanchez's disappearance has prompted the family to abandon their Tijuana home, which they own, and move to North
County.
They left behind Cookie, the family dog. She keeps watch over their house while Angel Sanchez, his wife, three daughters, two sons and two grandsons
rent a two-bedroom house. His other children are married.
Sanchez said he can barely make the $1,500 monthly rent.
Sanchez visits the Tijuana house often to feed Cookie and to ask neighbors if there are any signs of his son.
“I still have hope that he's alive,” he said. “So far, I have heard nothing about my son.”
[Edited on 6-30-2008 by Woooosh]
[Edited on 6-30-2008 by Woooosh]
[Edited on 6-30-2008 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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