Benjamin LeBaron

Benjamin LeBaron
Born	Benjamín Franklin LeBaron Ray 4 October 1976[1]
Died	7 July 2009 (age 32)
Cause of death	Violent death after home invasion
Residence	Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico
Other names	Benji
Citizenship	Dual American-Mexican
Occupation	Pecan farming and trade between Mexico and the US
Known for	Anti-crime activism and assassination presumably by drug cartel members during the 2009 Mexican drug war
Religion	Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times
Relatives	Brother-in-law of fellow murder victim Luis Widmar

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).^[2] 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.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Activism

LeBaron spearheaded the movement after his brother, Eric LeBaron, sixteen at the time, had been kidnapped in May.^{[citation needed]} Residents from the surrounding communities, including individuals who are fundamentalist Mormon, as well as mainstream Mormon (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.^[8][9] Mexico has strict gun control laws but began to train and supervise armed citizen's patrols among the Chihuahua religious enclaves.^[10] This would be an extension of an existing program that trains members of remote Mexican indigenous tribes to man such patrols.^[11] 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.^[12]

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 War
• Timeline of the Mexican Drug War
• Home Invasion
• Kidnapping

References

1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/26/world/20090726-MEXICO_5.html
2. ^ http://notifamaestatal.blogspot.com/2009/07/piden-al-gobernador-acciones-decisivas.html
3. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR2009072203738.html?hpid=topnews
4. ^ http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=338985&CategoryId=14091
5. ^ http://m3report.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/mexico-mormons-who-stood-up-against-organized-crime-tortured-and-assassinated/
6. ^ http://mx.news.yahoo.com/s/26062009/38/n-mexico-12-muertos-deja-choque-sicarios.html
7. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-killing9-2009jul09,0,7980677.story
8. ^ http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12769262?source=most_viewed
9. ^ http://166.70.44.68/blogs/plurallife/2009/07/benjamin-and-luis/
10. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/world/americas/26mexico.html?_r=1&hp
11. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gvQo4ayASQe6IFl1SXNx-MwsqI0gD99BTMI81
12. ^ http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705314165/Mexicans-to-rally-for-tougher-laws-in-wake-of-kidnappings.html

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

Persondata
Name	Lebaron, Benjamin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 October 1976
Place of birth
Date of death	7 July 2009
Place of death