On August 13th, 2012, Jon Hammar was detained in Mexico after entering the country with a weapon considered of military use. After a 4 month process, the former United States Marine was released yesterday and will be able to celebrate the holidays at home.

The 27 year old is an Iraq War veteran and as a measure to control the post-traumatic stress haunting him since he came back to the United States, he decided to travel to Costa Rica, but was detained after entering the Mexican border with a weapon, a shotgun. The crime in Mexico is punishable with 15 years of prison.

Hammar had registered his weapon with the US authorities, and when he proceeded to do the same in Mexico, he was detained. The situation, as expressed by his family on a press release, turned critical after he was beaten up by other prisoners in the federal penitentiary, and they asked the family for money in order to keep him alive. Just some days ago, Jon Hammar, had little hope of being free.

Family and friends sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Janet Napolitano, asking for their support to get Hammar released; a Facebook page was created too to inform people about his case and try to help him.

But at last the story had a happy ending yesterday at night, when member of the US Consulate in Mexico escorted Jon to the border, where he was received by his father with whom he would travel to Florida to meet the rest of his family. It is expected for the Hammar to come back to Mexico to obtain the seized weapon, a shotgun that was used by his grandfather.

[p]manuel.medina@sandiegored.com

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