Pavel Kulisek was arrested in Los Barriles on March 11 and remains behind bars in a maximum-security Mexican prison, charged with promoting drug trafficking and organized crime.Friends and family are urging the Canadian government to help a B.C. man jailed in Mexico.About 50 people gathered in front of the Mexican consulate in Vancouver Tuesday to demand help for Pavel Kulisek.His family and lawyer say he was swept up in the arrest of Gustavo Rivera Martinez, an accused drug kingpin and an acquaintance Mr. Kulisek knew only through dirt biking.They say Mr. Kulisek, who lived in North Vancouver before temporarily moving to Mexico with his wife and two young daughters a year ago, was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Mr. Kulesik's wife, Jirina Kuliskova, says her husband's health has deteriorated, leaving him suffering from constant stomach pains and unable to sleep."They spent a few casual bike rides in the town where we lived," Kulisek's wife, Jirina Kuliskova, said."And one night when they were having a hot dog in this little hot dog stand, they were arrested."Kulisek, his wife, and their two young daughters temporarily moved from North Vancouver to Mexico a year ago.In December, Kulisek's lawyer said he was introduced to Martinez, who identified himself as Carlos Herrera, at a motocross race." Martinez was well-respected. He had four little kids that everybody adored. Just a normal family," Kuliskova said.Kulisek's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, said that was far from the case.
" Martinez is one of the most wanted by the FBI and other American agencies. And apparently this guy was involved in a drug cartel," Cruz Rico said at the rally Tuesday, which drew about 50 people urging the federal government to help.Cruz Rico said the only evidence against his client is a statement made by a former police officer who was arrested with Kulisek, Martinez, and two other men.That former officer, Cruz Rico alleges, accused Kulisek of being in charge of buying real estate properties for the cartel."That is not concrete evidence, and that is not good enough to put somebody under a criminal process in Canada and in Mexico as well," Cruz Rico said."I believe that in order to make a deal he produced this kind of information."Foreign Affairs spokesperson Eugenie Cormier-Lassonde said consular officials, including Canada's ambassador to Mexico, have met with Kulisek and are in contact with Mexican authorities to ensure Kulisek's right to due process is protected.Cormier-Lassonde was unable to provide further details due to privacy concerns.A call to the Mexican embassy in Ottawa was not returned.Cruz Rico was also the lawyer for Brenda Martin, who returned to Canada in May after serving more than two years behind bars in Mexico.Martin was arrested in February 2006 in connection with an Internet fraud scheme run by her ex-boss, Alyn Waage.Kulisek has no criminal record in Canada or the Czech Republic, from where he emigrated in 1990.Cruz Rico said the stress of Kulisek's incarceration appears to be weighing on him more and more."He's in pretty bad shape. When I had the opportunity to meet him for the first time, I thought that he was an optimistic guy," Cruz Rico said."After a few months, he was completely different. He was shaking, he was crying. He said that the worst could happen."Kuliskova said her husband's health has deteriorated since he was arrested."We need help. We need government to help us," Kuliskova said.

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