My 1st Cousin was Murderered in Mexico

The Drug Cartel has got to be STOPPED:
A few weeks ago in May I talked about my cousin Eric being kidnapped and now his Brother has been murdered.

Personal Note: I do not agree with some of my Families Religious choices but this is out of hand.

(I have a link to KSL NEWS on my Blog)


Brother of kidnap victim murdered in Mexico
July 7th, 2009 @ 6:00pm
COLONIA LEBARON, MEXICO -- The brother of a 16-year-old boy whose kidnapping sparked protests over the lawlessness in the region has been murdered.
Family members told KSL News Radio that Benjamin LeBaron was killed in an act of retaliation for speaking out about the May abduction of his brother, Eric. The killing happened overnight in Galeana, near the family's community of Colonia LeBaron.
"A bunch of trucks pulled up and dragged Benji out, tied his hands together and put him in one of the trucks," said one family member, who asked not to be identified out of fear for his family's security.

Benjamin LeBaron with his wife
His neighbor, Luis Widmar, tried to help but was beat up and put in the truck too, family members said. Both men were found Tuesday morning in a cemetery.
"They were shot in the back of the head," the family member said.
One report says a note was left with LeBaron's body which read: "Are you afraid now?"
LeBaron, 32, leaves behind a wife and five boys. Widmar, 29, had four boys and a little girl.
"It's just awful," said another relative of LeBaron's. "We're just sitting around here weeping. It's just heartache for Eric's mother. She got Eric back and lost Benjamin."
The slayings have horrified relatives here in Utah, where Colonia LeBaron has roots. (The community was founded in the 1920s by polygamists leaving Utah, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been excommunicating members for practicing plural marriage.)

Luis Widmar
It was Eric LeBaron's abduction in May that prompted the first rounds of protests to the Mexican government about spiraling violence within the border region. Fundamentalists, LDS members and Mennonites banded together to protest at the governor's house in Chihuahua. Benjamin LeBaron was outspoken about the need for help to bring his brother home. The governor sent members of the army into the region. A short time later, Eric LeBaron was released unharmed.
A few weeks ago, former LDS temple president Meredith Romney was abducted in the region. He was released after a ransom was paid.
But the spate of abductions spawned protests. Members of the LDS community and even fundamentalists participated in the demonstrations seeking to hold the government's feet to the fire amidst out of control violence, believed to be linked to drug cartels.
A woman who was at one of the demonstrations sent an e-mail to KSL right after, saying: "The governor said that he appreciates seeing the support and unity of the organization and will continue to work to improve safety for the citizens of the state of Chihuahua."
The U.S. Department of State recently released a travel alert for American's traveling to Mexico, especially the border towns of Juarez and Tijuana. Dozens of Americans have been kidnapped;some of them murdered.
LeBaron's case is still being investigated.
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Mexico outraged by killing of anti-crime activist
July 8th, 2009 @ 7:47pm
By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico reacted to the slaying of an anti-crime activist with outrage Wednesday: Congress called for a minute of silence, television commentators demanded justice and activists pledged to step up their fight against crime despite persistent threats.
Public-safety groups say Benjamin LeBaron was the first anti-crime activist in Mexico to have been murdered in retaliation for his work.
"It is essential that those responsible ... be punished," the non-governmental group Mexico United Against Crime said in a statement. "We cannot allow organized crime to intimidate, threaten and kill those brave enough to denounce them."
The lower House of Congress held a minute of silence and proposed a resolution condemning Tuesday's slaying of LeBaron, 32, and neighbor Luis Widmar, 29, by a gang of armed men in military-style camouflage gear. The two were abducted from LeBaron's house, tossed into a truck and then shot in the head on a nearby road.
"Millions of Mexicans share your indignation over this crime," national radio and television commentator Joaquin Lopez Doriga told the victims' relatives.
Members of the tiny hamlet of Colonia LeBaron, a community founded by excommunicated Mormons in northern Chihuahua state, pledged to forge ahead with community efforts to stop kidnapping and extortion, despite LeBaron's death.
LeBaron helped lead the town's approximately 2,000 inhabitants in protests against the May 2 kidnapping of LeBaron's brother Eric LeBaron, 19. The residents refused to pay the $1 million ransom kidnappers requested and demonstrated in the Chihuahua state capital to demand justice.
Even after Eric was released unharmed a week later, the LeBaron people _ most of whom are dual U.S. citizens and many of whom still practice a breakaway version of the Mormon faith _ continued to lead marches demanding more law enforcement in the rural, isolated corner of Chihuahua state.
They also set up a committee to report any suspicious activities in town to police, quickly becoming an example for other Chihuahua communities plagued by drug-related kidnappings and extortion.
"A lot of the neighboring communities were asking for our help on how to get organized and how to set up," said LeBaron's cousin, Daniel LeBaron. "They kind of looked at us as an example to follow."
Both the army and police increased their presence in the town following Eric's kidnapping. And then last month, soldiers detained 25 suspected hit men for the Sinaloa drug cartel in the nearby town of Nicolas Bravo.
LeBaron's killers left a banner saying his slaying was revenge for those arrests.
Benjamin LeBaron's brother, Julian LeBaron, said the banner was signed "El General," an apparent reference to Sinaloa cartel lieutenant Jose Garcia.
Colonia LeBaron was founded in the late 1940s by polygamist Mormons from the United States after the U.S. church disavowed the practice. Few of the families in the hamlet still practice polygamy, and many are no longer practicing Mormons. The townspeople now mainly farm, run cattle ranches and grow pecans.
Daniel Lebaron said the community knows it can't win the war against the drug cartels, but he said that won't stop it from organizing.
"These people think that this is going to stop us," he said. "But it's only going to make us stronger."