Yanira Maldonado: Arizona Mother of 7 Detained in Mexico for Over a Week Tells CNN, 'I'm Innocent' (Video

Yanira Maldonado, a devout Arizona mother of 7 children was arrested and detained last week in a Mexican jail. She was accused of drug smuggling last week. Authorities stopped the bus was riding in with her husband, Gary, returning from Mexico after a funeral. They found 12.5 pounds (or 5. 7 kilograms), which appeared to be under her seat, news reports said. 

Maldonado has not seen her family in almost a week, since being detained, and opened up to CNN's Rafael Romo, the first televised interview she has given. Maldonado told Romo that she has been relying on the scriptures to survive, all the while maintaining her innocence. 

"Reading the scriptures, reading the Book of Mormon, praying, fasting," Maldonado told CNN. "And all the support that I've been getting from my family, my husband, my children, and everybody out there reaching out to help."

Gary Maldonado has believed from the outset that the Mexican soldiers who checked the bus for drugs said that they merely wanted bribes, and the case continues to expose the circumstances as fraudulent. 

"From what I hear, that's regular occurrence," he said. 

Arizona Senator Flake is monitoring the Maldonado case, according to his office.

On Saturday, Maldonado's daughter, Anna Soto, said she visited her mother in jail. "I broke down in tears, but she just told me that she was going to get out," Soto said Monday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "She wanted to tell my brothers and sisters that she loved them very much. My biggest fear is that I will never get to see her again. She's innocent," Soto added. "She's an honest good woman. A Christian woman that would never do anything to jeopardize her freedom."

A Mexican state official also told CNN on Wednesday said that it appears that Maldonado was framed.

A Facebook page called "Yaniro Maldonado Must Be Freed" has been set up since she was arrested last week and has over 1500 "likes."

Tags

International Affairs, Yanira Maldonado, U.S.-Mexico Relations, CNN Interview

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