This is so upsetting to write about, but I must tell you about the corruption in the US Foreign Service. This happened in 2013.
My friend was a Brazilian-ethnic medical student. To protect his privacy, I'm going to call him Alex. We've known each other for several years, and last year he was done with his final clinical clerkships, so he had several weeks of free-time before he started his IM residency. So Alex asked me if I wanted to take a trip to Brazil to go see Carnival. That really excited me, so I jumped at the chance.
Well, we were having a great time partying, and he was getting really drunk. Along with just about everyone else, except me. Well, a few guys started making passes at me, and he decided to defend me. By smashing their heads into the wall. A huge fight started, and I slipped out and got the police (very awkward, since I kept mixing up Spanish and Portuguese words). I gave them me and Alex's US Passports, and they arrested Alex along with several other of the fighters. They returned mine, but kept Alex's, and called the US Consulate to inform them that he was arrested.
So he was in jail now, and I didn't have any money to post his bond, so he was remanded to Polinter jail while charges of battery were being filed.
I knew that Brazilian prisons were bad and the guards are lazy, but I was thinking "he's a tough guy, he can tough this out." How wrong I was. Apparently, he was being kept in the same area as the people he was fighting. So when I came to see him the next morning, he was beaten severely. His face was totally smashed in. Later I was informed he was rushed to a hospital where a craniotomy was done and his face plated back together.
I immediately went to the US Consul, and I told them "You need to fucking do something, he is going to die!" Their response "Ma'am, we sincerely apologize for this terrible ordeal you are going through, but we cannot interfere with another state's justice system. Things will work out, we are doing everything in our power to help."
I told them "You need to get him released so he can be in a proper secure prison, not this rat-infested cesspool. Man up, and start actually trying to help him! Don't you have FAST Marines protecting this site? You can deploy them to extract him so he can be moved to safety!" "Ma'am, if we do anything that could even be construed as a threat to Brazil's sovereignty, we will get expelled and then all bets are off. Please be patient, I know you are extremely frustrated; I would be too."
Eventually he recovered and was sent back to the prison. He was now partially-sighted in both eyes, and is on anti-seizure medication.
After six months, he had a trial, and he was sentenced to two years. During that period, he suffered another assault, and his hands were smashed.
At this point I said "I've had enough. The USN Fourth Fleet is stationed here. Perhaps threatening a naval blockade will convince them to release him." "Ma'am, I truly feel for you. This is a tragedy. But a naval blockade is an act of war, as I am sure you know, and starting a war with Brazil will not help him at all. We cannot break the law, let alone declare war, to rescue him. Unfortunately, it's just not worth it to risk the lives of thousands of Sailors and Marines for one person and effectively force Brazil to sever diplomatic relations and upset the entirety of South America. Once again none of this should have ever happened, but there's nothing we can legally do."
Apparently my friend's severe injuries that were suffered in Brazilian prison were not enough to convince the USFS officers to risk their jobs to ensure his safety. He is permanently disabled, and will never be able to fulfill his dream.
The USFS is lazy and does nothing to prevent evil from being inflicted upon our citizens in foreign countries. Apologies are not solutions! You may, gasp, have to break the law to dispense justice!
If I was in charge of US foreign policy, any country that inflicts this sort of evil upon our travelers will be annexed so true justice can be dispensed, because if they do this to our citizens, they no doubt also do it to their own citizens. We are the leaders of the free world, and we must spread the Bill of Rights, such as the right to clean, safe prisons and speedy trials.
I want to burn the Brazil Embassy down. They need to understand that this cannot be tolerated. Imperial Rome would have annexed them by now.
I miss my friend. He was my hero. He deserved to be arrested and charged with assault, but he didn't deserve to have his body, mind, and future destroyed for protecting me.
The Ferguson rioters deserve this crap. Not my friend.
