Mexican Attorney General Signs Off On Release Of El Paso Teacher In Jurez Prison

The husband of the El Paso teacher locked up in Juarez said the Mexican Attorney General has signed the forms to finalize the release of his wife, Ana Isela Martinez Amaya.

There were tears and hugs outside the federal building in Ciudad Jurez as imprisoned El Paso teacher Ana Isela Martinez Amaya learned she will soon go free.

The judge handed down the order Friday afternoon, and Mexican prosecutors dropped the charges against the 35-year-old mother of two who has been locked up since May 26, according to her defense attorney.

The attorney added he believes a recent FBI investigation exposing an alleged drug smuggling ring that agents said planted drugs on unsuspecting border crossers made all the difference in the teacher’s case.

Martinez Amaya is a Jurez resident who crosses into El Paso for work. She teaches fourth grade at the La Fe Preparatory School in south El Paso.

On the morning of her arrest, Martinez Amaya was on her way to class when she said she was stopped in the express lane of the Stanton international bridge.

Mexican authorities discovered 110 pounds of marijuana in two pieces of luggage in her trunk.

Martinez Amaya insisted the drugs were planted.

In an interview with ABC-7’s Jurez news partners, XHIJ, Martinez Amaya said she is not angry with the two men accused in the FBI case.

“Hopefully, they can find something inside their hearts and change their lives,” she said.

Outside the Jurez federal building, supporter Oscar Barraza, a friend of Martinez Amaya’s for 25 years, told ABC-7 his prayers, along with those of many other supporters, were answered with Friday’s decision.

“We feel God works,” he said. “We feel happy.”