Thorn Tree travel forum

Hell in Huatulco

This poor guy could use some help. If you're Canadian (especially), or just the compassionate
sort, and you're in Huatulco or heading that way, consider seeing if there is anything you can
do for Mr. Kimber ...

'Get me out of here'
B.C. man says he has been suffering in a Mexican prison for past two years on false charges

Susan Lazaruk And Melissa Leong, CanWest News Service, National Post
Published: Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Peter Kimber left Mission, B.C., with his common-law wife and their seven children and drove
south in an old orange school bus to provide the kids with "an educational travel experience."
The family settled in Huatulco, Mexico, to earn extra money for their adventure; but once there,
Mr. Kimber, a construction worker, became embroiled in a disagreement with clients over a
home he was building. The clients, a British couple, complained to the local authorities, who
then arrested Mr. Kimber for "generic fraud."
More than two years later, his family and friends are still trying to free him from prison where
he says he is being beaten and tortured; they have begun mounting a campaign, backed by a
local politicians and a fringe U.S. presidential candidate, against what they lament is a
"corrupt justice system."
"Get me out of here," Mr. Kimber, 44, said yesterday from his prison in Huatulco, where he
suffers from kidney problems and other ill health. "I want somebody to actually help save what's
left of my life. I've tried it on my own for two years and four months. There's absolutely no way
for a human being to fight against these people legally." It never occurred to Mr. Kimber or his
eldest daughter, Jessica Kimber, 21, who is caring for her 17-year-old brother and her
15-year-old sister, to go to the media before now, he said. It was a chance meeting his
daughters had with an inspirational author and radio personality at a women's fair last October
at the Tradex centre in Abbotsford, B.C., that turned Mr. Kimber around. Anne Marie Evers
of North Vancouver mentioned the meeting to a close friend, John Kennedy, an entrepreneur
who is running as a Democrat for the 2008 U.S. presidential nomination, and asked him to join
in her prayers for the family. Mr. Kennedy, who with his sister had helped free their brother from
a wrongful conviction in Thailand in the 1990s, set up a professional-looking Web site ...
www.freepeterkimber.com. He also sent letters to the the prison warden demanding the end of
the ill treatment of Mr. Kimber, and to the International Criminal Court as well as the High
Commissioner of Human Rights, asking for their intervention. "It just made me furious the way
he's been treated," he said yesterday from his Georgia home. "It's one of the cruelest injustices
toward humanity. It's turned into a nightmare."
Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Affairs is sending a staffer to "follow up on issues of health and
security," said spokesman Alain Cacchione. He said the Privacy Act prevents him from discussing
details of the case.
On April 1, 2001, Mr. Kimber and his family set off for Central America and Mexico. In June,
Mr. Kimber obtained permits and entered into a contract to construct a home for Kevin and Tess
Hunneybell, who run a Huatulco bed-and-breakfast and cafe. They could not be reached yesterday.
The first phase of the project was finished and approved, but during the second phase, some
issues arose, his family said. Mr. Kimber said the couple reneged on the contract and had him
arrested. Police took him from his stepdaughter's birthday celebration on Oct. 15, 2004. His
then-common-law wife presented evidence to a judge to prove Mr. Kimber's innocence but the
evidence went missing a week later, his family said. On three separate occasions, his family had
paid significant fees to court-appointed lawyers who in turn disappeared with the money, they say.
In January, 2005, evidence was presented to a judge a second time. The following month, his
family was taken from the school bus where they were living and interrogated by immigration
officials. His family eventually returned to Canada. Whenever his kids have extra cash, they send
it to Mr. Kimber for his food and supplies.
Mr. Kimber said he's been involved in about 150 fights in prison, where he's been stabbed with a
blood-filled syringe by another inmate and thrown into isolation. "It's by a seven-foot-by-seven-foot
room and the last time I was in there, there were 16 people in that room, and I was there for six days."

Now, I realize that the world is full of injustices, that this is only one side of the story, and that this
article leaves the reader with a lot of unanswered questions but, by any measure, this is a very sad
situation. Where is the prison in/near Huatulco located? How hard would it be to visit an inmate? Would
it be difficult for someone to bring a detainee food, clothing or something like a carton of cigarettes
(to use as "currency" with other inmates)? Could you be reasonably assured that things like this
wouldn't simply be confiscated or stolen and never benefit the prisoner at all?

Best regards,
Mike OToole.

'Acepto que soy un descarado,
tambien un sinvergüenza,
pero ... ¿qué puedo hacer?'
-Los Tucanes de Tijuana.