Letters from Camilo's Mother
• Letter to Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General
of Costa Rica, Alejandro Cedeño
• An open letter to the public
Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General of Costa Rica, Alejandro Cedeño
Dear Sir,
My name is Maritza Castillo, I am the mother of Sergeant Camilo Mejía.
Thank you for the message you left on my answering machine on Thursday, June 10. I listened to it carefully and several times. Without leaving out anything, I will try to reply to every single one of your points:
You said that you have no information about what is happening with Houston.
I spoke with a young woman who told me she was a consul, I do not remember exactly whether she said Consul General. This was some weeks ago, I explained to her what had happened to Camilo, I informed her that he had been moved from the State of Georgia to Oklahoma, and that I was very worried about his situation.
I described the unfair and illegal form in which the Government of the United States has treated my son's trial, and I asked her to come to Oklahoma to guarantee my son's security and his respectful treatment. She answered that she could not do anything because she had to wait for the papers of the transfer, which would definitely come those days, but that she had not yet been officially notified of Camilo's situation, nor of his transfer.
Three days ago I spoke to Ms. Emilia Trejos, Consul General of Costa Rica in Atlanta, and she informed me that the papers referring to my son's transfer were already in Houston. To this day I have not received any news from the Consulate in Houston, nor have they answered to any of the several messages I left on their answering machine.
Today, on the 11th of June, my lawyer in Costa Rica, Mr. Walter Antillon, has sent Ms. Cira Sánchez, Consul General of Costa Rica in Houston, a model form of a legal power to represent Camilo as his lawyer in front of the government and the Costa Rican authorities. This was done in order for her, or any other person as determined by the consulate, to personally appear in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the place where Camilo is imprisoned, and to sign the document before her or whoever the consulate shall designate.
This is the situation, I am waiting for somebody of the Consulate in Houston to give me a sign that steps are taken to visit my son.
Mr. Cedeño, I understand the reasons you give me for not proceeding with the empowerment I have requested, I understand that I am not the appropriate person to do this, and I understand that the legal power my son made before departing to Iraq is of no value in Costa Rica. I understand all this perfectly well, but I would have very much liked to hear some advice from you, something helpful in this moment in which I am desperately looking for justice for my son, I would have liked to hear some suggestions that might help me to be effective.
I want to quote your own words, Mr. Cedeño: "the Government of Costa Rica does what it can and what is appropriate, since all seems to indicate that your son's issue is lying outside the diplomatic sphere because it is a military issue." I regret having had to hear these words, because the last day of my son's trial was the 21st of May 2004. On the 22nd of May, my son's lawyer Mr. Louis Font sent a fax to Ms. Emilia Trejos, Consul General in Atlanta, with detailed information related to my son's trial. Among the papers sent by Mr. Font, there was a copy of the motion to dismiss the trial that my son's team of lawyers presented to the military judge, and in this motion the defense quotes the treaty between Costa Rica and the United States and states that the Government of the United States violated an international treaty with Costa Rica. The judge did not take this motion into consideration. In the copy, an excerpt of the treaty is quoted that explicitly says that a military contract of a Costa Rican citizen may not be extended without this citizen's consent. Following is a copy of this treaty:
"The citizens of the United States residing in the Republic of Costa Rica, and the citizens of the Republic of Costa Rica residing in the United States, shall be exempted from all compulsory military service whatsoever, either by sea or by land, and from all forced loans or military exactions or requisitions; and shall not be compelled under any pretext whatsoever, to pay other ordinary charges, requisitions or taxes, greater than those that are paid by native citizens of the Contracting Parties respectively."
On the front page of the fax that was sent to Ms. Trejos, Mr. Font suggested to the authorities which at that time represented the Government of Costa Rica to consult Professor Jules Lobel at the University of Pittsburg, an expert in international law.
My son's case has been fairly public and it is known that the defense team is composed of Mr. Louis Font and Ms. Gale Glazer, both lawyers with more than 25 years of professional practice, the ex-Attorney General of the United States Mr. Ramsey Clark, expert in international law, and Professor Francis Boyle of the University of Illinois, also an expert in international law. They all assert that in the case of my son not only was an injustice committed but also a violation of this treaty that speaks of military contracts.
In other words, Mr. Cedeño, I am telling you that precisely because a Costa Rican citizen is involved in this military case, this treaty is coming to public notice. The Army of the United States extended my son's contract arbitrarily and without consulting him. Camilo was sent to Iraq two months before the expiration of his contract in the Army, and he warned his superiors that he should not be deployed since his contract was about to expire; however, his superiors did not listen to him. The Government of the United States has not listened to me either. I wrote to senior government officials and representatives of the State of Florida denouncing that my son was deployed in a war without considering his immigration status, but nobody did anything to correct the mistake.
On the 21st of May 2003, Camilo was in Ar Ramadi, honorably complying with his eight years of obligatory military service. Again Camilo spoke to his superiors about his discharge, and again he was ignored. It did not help him, either, when he informed his chiefs that he was not a U.S. American citizen and that he did not plan to apply for the U.S. American citizenship, at least not at that time. All this has been documented in detail, the treaty between the United States and Costa Rica exists, it is not fictitious and it is explicit.
I am not asking my country to do anything against the law. On the contrary, I am demanding that it should be respected as a sovereign nation, I am asking the Government of Costa Rica to present an official note of protest to the Government of the United States and to request the immediate liberation of my son, because they have abused of a Costa Rican and have disrespected the People and the Government of Costa Rica. I am telling you this because as of this moment, I have received nothing else but the notice that the Chancellor of the Costa Rican Government has expressed his interest for I do not wish to be unjust and I want to openly acknowledge that the Consul of Costa Rica in Atlanta was very friendly. She tried to help in my son's case, as did the Consul in Miami, who, even if she could not offer any help, did have a humane and empathic voice when she talked to me.
I again wish to tell you, Mr. Cedeño, that your answer worries and alarms me, since I hear from it not a real desire to help me but to excuse the lack of a concrete answer on behalf of the Costa Rican Government. In your message, I never heard the word "law" or "treaty". In your message, you do not mention that the Government or the Foreign Ministry are taking any care of the case, or revising any law or right of an unjustly imprisoned Costa Rican.
In contrast to the passive posture of the Costa Rican Government, Amnesty International, such an internationally respected organization, has officially declared Camilo a legitimate a true prisoner of conscience and has demanded his immediate and unconditional liberation from the North American Government. Amnesty International recognizes Camilo's moral quality, as he does not wish to participate in war crimes, such as the United States Government's excessive use of force, which has caused civilian deaths, including children. In his conscientious objection, Camilo denounced abuses against prisoners of war. He handed this document to the military authorities on the 16th of March 2004 - many weeks before the scandal of the abuses against prisoners in the Iraqi prisons became public. Amnesty International recognizes that after honorably complying with his contract in the war, my son made legal and honest efforts to be discharged.
And finally, you say that the Foreign Ministry will stay in contact! I would like to know with whom, because our lawyers and our family have not had any more news from the Government of Costa Rica after Mr. Louis Font sent the fax to the authorities in Atlanta. Camilo still has not received any visit from the Consulate authorities, a right clearly established in the contract: our Government may, at any time during the 7 days of the week and 24 hours a day, visit a Costa Rican in jail. The excuse that this is not possible because he is a member of the Army is not valid, since this fair right is specified in the treaty that has been so often mentioned by the international law experts I have quoted above.
I wish to make clear that it does not seem appropriate to me that you answered my desperate cry for help with a simple message on my answering machine. It is extremely important for me to have exact knowledge of what the Government of Costa Rica thinks it should do or what it will not take care of. I ask you to please answer in a written form and as soon as possible to this request of mine.
Finally, I would like to say that I am a desperate mother looking for justice and that I will not lose heart until the North American Government rectifies the injustice committed against my son. I will not lose heart in my commitment. If necessary, I will appeal to the Costa Rican civil society to make the Costa Rican Government abandon the timid role it has had until today, and to make it play an adequate role, acting in defense of my son Camilo Mejía, who by law is a Costa Rican Citizen.
Yours sincerely,
Maritza Castillo
Open Letter to the Public
My name is Maritza Castillo, a member of “Military Families Speak Out”, and mother of Sergeant Camilo Mejía. On the 21 of May, after a trial carefully scripted by the Army, my son was found guilty of desertion and sentenced to one year in prison. In their continuing efforts to punish him, a few days following the trial he was shipped to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to serve his sentence thousands of miles from his young daughter, his family, his lawyers and the peace organizations and friends that support him.
He was sentenced for disobeying an order to return to Iraq to kill people of a sovereign nation; sentenced for returning to the army to denounce abuses being committed against the civilian population, young soldiers, and prisoners of war; sentenced with the same sentence given to a soldier who, following orders of superiors, participated in the abuse of prisoners.
I am announcing to the people of the United States of America, of Iraq and the world that I am not giving up my struggle for my son and against this immoral and disgraceful war; I’ll not rest until my son receives justice and this illegal, immoral war has been ended!!!
I am asking people who support Camilo to write to General William G. Webster, Jr. (address below) to ask him to reduce my son’s sentence out of consideration of his request to be considered a conscientious objector. Camilo decided not to return to Iraq for moral reasons, not from cowardice. General Webster has the power to reduce his sentence. In addition, please ask Gen. Webster to make a transcript of the trial available as soon as possible because my son’s appeal cannot be presented without it. Send a copy of this letter to Camilo’s lawyer (address below) so support for the sentence reduction can be documented.
We are also asking that you write letters of support to Camilo (address below), with a copy to me (address below) so we can be sure that his correspondence is not being destroyed – a violation of his rights and another method of making his punishment more severe.
We are also asking that people around the world contact the Costa Rican embassy in their respective countries and urge them to demand that the treaty between Costa Rica and the United States of America, which clearly establishes that a Costa Rican citizen can not be forced to extend his military service, be respected. The North American government has ignored this treaty, first ordering Camilo to go to war, then arbitrarily extending his term of service, and finally denying defense lawyers the use of this treaty during his trial at Ft. Stewart on 19 May 2004. This treaty takes priority over “Stop Loss”, the order that the U.S.Army uses to retain U.S. citizens in military service in times of war. Stop Loss should not apply to Camilo because he is a citizen of Costa Rica and not the United States of America. As a sovereign nation, it is important that the government of Costa Rica enforce this treaty. Contact information for the Costa Rican embassy nearest you can be found here.
We’re also asking for your financial support to continue working to free Camilo, to continue working for peace and to guarantee that justice will prevail. You can make donations to the Peace Abbey/Free Camilo. (Address below).
At the bottom, you will find the addresses of Gen. William G. Webster, Louis Font, and Gale Glazer (Camilo’s lawyers), Lewis Randa, The Peace Abbey, Camilo and myself.
Peace for the people of Iraq! Peace for the world!
Bring our soldiers home now!
Sincerely yours,
Maritza Castillo, mother of Camilo Mejia
Major General William G. Webster, Jr.
Commanding General, Fort Stewart
42 Wayne Place
Ft. Stewart, GA 31314
Louis P. Font and Gale Glazer
Font & Glazer
62 Harvard Street, Suite 100
Brookline, MA 02445
The Peace Abbey
Two North Main Street
Sherborn, Massachusetts 01770
508-650-3659
Pt. Camilo Mejia
Building 1490
Randolph Rd.
Fort Sill, OK 73503
Maritza Castillo.
201 178 Drive # 323
Miami, FL 33160