THE BORDER REPORT

I've been monitoring the U.S. State Department's efforts in trying to locate a missing U.S. citizen in Cananea, Sonora, and all I can say is that if your loved one turns up missing in Mexico, you may be better off hiring a private security firm to go find them. The man's been missing since mid-June, and the latest news (none) just caps off a week with ten people kidnapped and another four or five dead in Cananea and Nogales, Sonora. The missing American's case is not a knock on the consulate office in Hermosillo, necessarily, but if ever there was a case of international impotency, this is it. The Mexicans are telling the Americans they have no idea what happened and State Department is standing numbly to the side, helpless. Ricardo Funk Diaz is the husband of a U.S. citizen living in Dallas, Texas. He went missing somewhere on that godawful highway between Cananea and Naco, June 19. Funk, a Mexican national awaiting a visa to the U.S., was the passenger in a Corvette driven by Scott Lietdke, a U.S. citizen. They were stopped by police and ... just kind of disappeared. A letter from the U.S. Consulate in Hermosillo to Senator John McCain is transcribed below, but this is the pertinent part: "Working with our contacts, post could find no trace of Mr. Funk Diaz, the missing American nor the car they were driving." Meanwhile; ten people have been kidnapped since Wednesday in Cananea and Nogales. Coming from a law enforcement source in Cananea, the latest missing in Cananea include: Luis Alfonso González Martínez, 21, Luís Alberto Urias Miranda 20, Jesús Ignacio Martínez Márquez, 50, Daniel León Montoya, 25, and Gustavo Orlando Hernández Escupinichi 26. A report from the Mexican Federal Attorney General's office reports eight others missing since June as: Arturo Alonso Cuen Quintero, Miguel Angel Mota Avechuco, Ricardo Funk Díaz, Martha Covarrubias, Jesús Minero, Reynold Ceferino Naranjo, José Neri Guillén, and Martín Romo. The car they were driving had Arizona plates, don't know yet if anyone in the car was a U.S. citizen or not. A couple of bodies turned up in Nogales yesterday, presumably by some wannabe Zetas; while in Cananea, two more dead turned up today. To top things off, last week I reported on the 12 cops who resigned the Agua Prieta police department. They constituted ten percent of the police force, don't know yet how many more quit since then. And finally, here's the letter the U.S. Consulate's Office in Hermosillo wrote to Sen. McCain about the missing American: Dear. Senator McCain, Thank you for your inquiry of July 25 regarding the case of Mr. Ricardo Funk Diaz, a Mexican citizen married to Amanda Cecilia Denogean of Cedar Hill, Texas. Your inquiry was referred to us by the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Mexico. While Mr. Funk Diaz disappeared from a town in Nogales’ district, Consulate General Hermosillo has been working with Mrs. Denogean on the case and will continue to be the primary point of contact. One June 25, 2008, Mrs. Denogean came to the U.S. Consulate General Hermosillo to report that her husband, Ricardo Funk Diaz, along with an American citizen had disappeared from Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, on June 19, 2008. She reported that Mr. Funk Diaz went with an American friend to pick up additional refreshments after dinner and never came home. Mr. Funk Diaz, originally from Acapulco, was in Cananea staying with Mrs. Denogean’s family while his immigrant visa application was in process. Mrs. Denogean gave post information about her husband’s disappearance and information about the American citizen who was in his company. Our ability to locate Mexican nationals is very limited but U.S. Consulate General Hermosillo is making every effort to help Mrs. Denogean. In addition to checking with our regular sources for missing persons, we also asked representatives of our law enforcement agencies at Post to speak with her. Post had received word previously through our law enforcement colleagues about a traffic ticket given to Mr. Funk Diaz’s American companion in Naco, Sonora, Mexico, around 10 p.m., on June 10. The border town of Naco is about two hours north of Cananea. We asked our colleagues to check with their sources at the local, state and federal level to try to locate Mr. Funk Diaz and or the American citizen who is also missing. We also contacted the American citizen’s family to see if we could be of assistance. They gave us verbal permission to try to locate the man. The American’s family filed a missing persons report about his disappearance with the authorities in Cananea. Working with our contacts, Post could find no trace of Mr. Funk Diaz, the missing American, nor the car they were driving. Our law enforcement colleagues could not find any information about the American or Mr. Funk Diaz. When we regretfully reported our findings to Mrs. Denogean, we suggested that she contact the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, near her home to see if they could be of any assistance locating their citizen, Mr. Funk Diaz, in Mexico. This remains an open case in Hermosillo. We check with our Mexican contacts and we are in frequent contact with Mrs. Denogean. We are working collaboratively with our consular and law enforcement colleagues throughout the U.S. mission in Mexico. U.S. Consulate General Hermosillo will continue to support in any way possible the efforts of Mrs. Denogean to locate her Mexican citizen husband.

-- Michel Marizco