Benjamin LeBaron
Encyclopedia
Benjamín "Benji" Franklin LeBaron Ray (1976 – 2009) was an anti-crime activist and community leader in a fundamentalist Latter Day Saint community
in Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua
, Mexico
, who had founded the advocacy group SOS Chihuahua (Sociedad Organizada Segura or Secure Organized Society). LeBaron, 32, a member of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times
and a citizen of both Mexico and the United States, was murdered along with his brother-in-law Luis Carlos "Wiso" Widmar Stubbs, 29, on 7 July 2009, by a group of assailants.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and Mennonite
(evangelical Protestant), organized vigils at the office of the governor of Chihuahua
. The government sent in the Army
to search for the victim, but after eight days Érick was released by his captors, without their receiving ransom. In mid-June, a leader in the mainstream Mormon faith, Meredith Romney, 72, the former president of the Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Temple, was kidnapped and held in a cave; Romney was ransomed the next day.
Benjamin Franklin LeBaron Ray, at the age of thirty two years old, and Luis Carlos Widmar Stubbs, at the age of twenty eight, joined the S.O.S. Chihuahua, and Benji was the foremost leader of this movement. He helped organize committees, and worked with all the communities in the northwest quarter of Chihuahua to put a stop to kidnapping and extortion.
After LeBaron's death, the movement has operated without a single figurehead. Mexico has strict gun control laws but began to train and supervise armed citizen's patrols among the Chihuahua religious enclaves. This would be an extension of an existing program that trains members of remote Mexican indigenous tribes to man such patrols. SOS Chihuahua's media contact, Karyn Longhurst of Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, said the group desires rapid response to kidnappings (presently the police must await a police report's being filed), the forfeiture of the assets of convicted kidnappers, mechanisms for reparations to victims, tightening of judicial and sentencing loopholes used by those suspected or convicted of kidnapping, increased prosecutions and punishments for those aiding and abetting kidnapping, including through official corruption.
Nicolas Bravo is a village in the south western part of Chihuahua which is more impoverished. An investigation of previous kidnapping had shown a connection between the kidnapping and day laborers from Nicolas Bravo. There were some twenty five villagers who had been picked up by the authorities due to alleged involvement in the kidnapping.
Mormon Colonies in Mexico
The Mormon colonies in Mexico are settlements located near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico which were established by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1885. Many of the original colonists came to Mexico due to federal attempts to curb and...
in Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua
Galeana, Chihuahua
Galeana is one of the 67 municipalities of Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Hermenegildo Galeana. The municipality covers an area of 1,529 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 3,774....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, who had founded the advocacy group SOS Chihuahua (Sociedad Organizada Segura or Secure Organized Society). LeBaron, 32, a member of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times
Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times
The Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times is a Mormon fundamentalist sect headquartered in northern Mexico that was founded in 1955 by Joel LeBaron and members of his family.-Establishment:...
and a citizen of both Mexico and the United States, was murdered along with his brother-in-law Luis Carlos "Wiso" Widmar Stubbs, 29, on 7 July 2009, by a group of assailants.
Activism
LeBaron spearheaded the movement after his brother, Eric LeBaron, sixteen at the time, had been kidnapped in May. Residents from the surrounding communities, including individuals who are fundamentalist Mormon, as well as mainstream MormonMormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
(evangelical Protestant), organized vigils at the office of the governor of Chihuahua
Governor of Chihuahua
According to the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, Executive Power in that Mexican state resides with a single individual, the Constitutional Governor of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, who is chosen for a period of six years and cannot for any reason...
. The government sent in the Army
Mexican Army
The Mexican Army is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle, , in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue...
to search for the victim, but after eight days Érick was released by his captors, without their receiving ransom. In mid-June, a leader in the mainstream Mormon faith, Meredith Romney, 72, the former president of the Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Temple, was kidnapped and held in a cave; Romney was ransomed the next day.
Benjamin Franklin LeBaron Ray, at the age of thirty two years old, and Luis Carlos Widmar Stubbs, at the age of twenty eight, joined the S.O.S. Chihuahua, and Benji was the foremost leader of this movement. He helped organize committees, and worked with all the communities in the northwest quarter of Chihuahua to put a stop to kidnapping and extortion.
After LeBaron's death, the movement has operated without a single figurehead. Mexico has strict gun control laws but began to train and supervise armed citizen's patrols among the Chihuahua religious enclaves. This would be an extension of an existing program that trains members of remote Mexican indigenous tribes to man such patrols. SOS Chihuahua's media contact, Karyn Longhurst of Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, said the group desires rapid response to kidnappings (presently the police must await a police report's being filed), the forfeiture of the assets of convicted kidnappers, mechanisms for reparations to victims, tightening of judicial and sentencing loopholes used by those suspected or convicted of kidnapping, increased prosecutions and punishments for those aiding and abetting kidnapping, including through official corruption.
The Tragedy
At the home of Benjamin LeBaron, at approximately one a.m. on July 7th, 2009, while hearing somebody trying to break into his house, Benjamin told his wife Miriam: “Get on the floor!” as he ran to the closet for his pants. Men were shooting guns outside of the house and breaking the windows, and they were beating the door with an axe. Miriam dashed across the hall to her children’s room when an armed man went into the room where Miriam was, and asked her, “Where are the guns?”. Miriam answered, we don’t have any guns. Another man entered and asked her, “Where are the guns and the cash?” Again she responded, we don’t have any. The man started searching underneath her clothes and trying to molest her. She pleaded with him, “Don’t do this in front of my kids.” And they left the room. Across the street, her sister Ruth saw the commotion and called her brother, Lenzo, and cried, “Please come and help, they’re shooting at Benji’s house.” She also called, Luis Carlos Widmar, who lived a couple of houses down. Luis ran through Benji’s front yard to help rescue Benji, where men with fully automatic weapons threw him to the ground, bound his hands and feet, and beat him. While this was taking place, Lenzo drove his suburban toward the front of the house, where they opened fire on him. Ducking down in his vehicle and driving straight forward he managed to escape with a slight bullet wound. Luis and Benjamin were taken up the road about four miles, where they were stood up and shot, execution style, and above them was placed a sign that stated, “To the LeBaron leaders who did not believe and still do not believe. This is for the twenty five men from Nicolas Bravo. Atte. El General”.Nicolas Bravo is a village in the south western part of Chihuahua which is more impoverished. An investigation of previous kidnapping had shown a connection between the kidnapping and day laborers from Nicolas Bravo. There were some twenty five villagers who had been picked up by the authorities due to alleged involvement in the kidnapping.
See also
- Mexican Drug WarMexican Drug WarThe Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was...
- Timeline of the Mexican Drug WarTimeline of the Mexican Drug WarThe timeline of the most relevant events in the Mexican Drug War is set out below. Although violence between drug cartels had been occurring for three decades, the Mexican government held a generally passive stance regarding cartel violence through the 1980s and early 2000s...
- Home InvasionHome InvasionHome Invasion is the fifth solo album by Ice-T. Released in 1993, the album Home Invasion is the fifth solo album by Ice-T. Released in 1993, the album Home Invasion is the fifth solo album by Ice-T. Released in 1993, the album (which was originally set to be released in 1992 under the deal with...
- KidnappingKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
External links
- "What Makes a Mexican Mormon?" – GetReligion.org
- "Fear and Death in a Mormon Town in Mexico," by Elisabeth Malkin – New York Times, July 26, 2009
- "A petition to the Mexican people," by Julian LeBaron – Dallas News, April 16, 2010