WE HAVE YOUR HUSBAND Tells a Harrowing Tale

We Have Your Husband is the harrowing tale of Eduardo and Jayne Valseca, a Mexican businessman and his American wife.

The Valseca family led an idyllic life with their children in a quaint, colonial town located in Central Mexico. They had rehabilitated an old, abandoned ranch, creating a wonderful home and life for themselves. They eventually joined with other local families to fund the school their children attended.

But in the summer of 2007, their wonderful world came to a crashing halt when, after dropping their children off at school and driving back to their ranch, Jayne and Eduardo were forced off the road by a band of armed men.

The couple were then pushed into another vehicle and driven miles away from their car. Both of them were injured in the attack, but – for whatever reason – the armed men let Jayne go, but kept Eduardo.

Jayne was eventually able to flag down help but it was several days before any word was received on her husband. As it turned out, the armed men were actually part of a revolutionary army who regularly practiced the art of kidnapping Mexican citizens as a way to fund their cause. The Valseca’s firmly believed the men took Eduardo because they believed the family was rich; that they could provide their army with 8 million dollars in cash.

Despite making a modest living from their ranch and his business affairs, Eduardo was by no means rich and it was extremely difficult for Jayne to collect the demanded funds, running into roadblocks not only with their local bank but also with the local police. Even when she reached out to a private firm who had worked on a kidnapping of a business associate of Eduardo’s, she was told to contact the federales as the army behind her husband’s kidnapping would not communicate with them.

Because of the constant delays in providing the kidnappers their demanded ransom, Eduardo endured beatings, starvation and two gunshot wounds. He was kept captive for 7 months before being released once Jayne was able to provide the men with an agreed upon sum of money – that was less than the original demand.

This movie is hard to watch because of the obvious suffering inflected on Eduardo, but also the pain and suffering it caused his wife and children. But the Valseca family should be commended for speaking out about what apparently happens on a regular basis in Mexico and the unsettling connections this revolutionary army has with other international organizations.

We Have Your Husband stars Teri Polo as Jayne Valseca, Esai Morales as Eduardo Valseca and Nicolas Gonzalez as Raul, a member of AFI (the Mexican federales) who was brought in to help Jayne with the negotiations. William R. Moses also appears as a business associate of Eduardo’s and Olivia d’Abo appears as a friend of Jayne’s.

The film will debut on Lifetime on Saturday, November 12 at 8 PM and is based on [easyazon-link asin=”0425241785″]the book of the same name[/easyazon-link] by Jayne Valseca.

Update: Jayne Rager Valseca died of cancer in May 2012 at the age of 45. Following the harrowing experience with her husband’s abduction, she became an advocate for those who fall victim to kidnapping for ransom in Mexico. She is survived by her mother, Jane Rager, and her husband and three children, Fernando, Emiliano and Nayah (now living in Virginia); two stepchildren, Eduardo Garcia Valseca Stromblad of Los Angeles and Aurora Valseca of Vera Cruz, Mexico; and a brother, John Rager of Leesburg.