OTTAWA - Brenda Martin languished in a Mexican prison while the member of Parliament then handling her file mingled with Canadian expatriates at a private reception nearby, The Canadian Press has learned.

Conservative MP Helena Guergis rubbed elbows in late January with Guadalajara's Canadian diaspora as they nibbled on hors d'oeuvres and sipped soft drinks and Coronas, say sources who attended the social function.

Guergis, secretary of state for foreign affairs, visited Mexico on Jan. 29 and 30 to meet with government officials in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

But now some are wondering why Guergis opted to attend a reception in Guadalajara instead of visiting Martin at the Puente Grande women's prison, about 20 kilometres away.

Two attendees of the private function at the Camino Real Guadalajara hotel on Jan. 29 say Guergis arrived with Canada's ambassador to Mexico and local consular officials after 6 p.m.

About 20 Canadians were already there, said Dan McTavish, a retired Canadian living in Mexico.

"It was just a social gathering so that she could meet some of the retired Canadians living along the north shore of Lake Chapala,'' McTavish said.

"They provided hors d'oeuvres and drinks were served -- everything from soft drinks to anything you wanted, including a good bottle of Corona. It wasn't particularly fancy; it was very low-key, actually.''

Guergis briefly told the room about her background and her work.

"She was only there for a little over an hour. It wasn't a long time,'' said Tony Wilshere, president of the Canadian Club of Lake Chapala.

Martin says it felt like ages.

She waited all day with close friend Debra Tieleman to hear from Guergis's aide, Axelle Pellerin, who accompanied the junior minister on the trip.

Early that morning, Pellerin sent Tieleman an e-mail, obtained by The Canadian Press, saying she and Guergis would arrive in Guadalajara at 2 p.m. and planned to stay for four hours.

"I have been told that there has been an extra meeting added to tomorrow afternoon,'' Pellerin wrote. "I will try to see how much time we have. I will at least try to arrange a phone call for you.''

Cellphone reception is spotty in the prison, so Tieleman left Martin around 4:30 p.m. to wait outside for Pellerin's call.

"Brenda called me and called me and called me and called me, saying 'Have you heard from them? Have you heard from them? What's going on?''' Tieleman said.

She said Pellerin e-mailed just after 6 p.m. saying she'd try to call "once we finish this one meeting.'' But Tieleman says she didn't hear from Pellerin until the next day.

Martin told The Canadian Press last week she was livid upon learning where Guergis was.

"She went to a cocktail party with some Canadians, sat and had hors d'oeuvres and drank Perrier water while I am in here languishing,'' she said.

Guergis's office responds

Guergis's office didn't respond to an interview request.

Nor did her staff say why the Tory MP didn't visit Martin, even though she was in Mexico to raise the jailed woman's case with officials there.

"Government officials at all levels, including Secretary of State Guergis, have been working diligently on Ms. Martin's behalf since 2006,'' Guergis's office said in a statement.

A partial itinerary of Guergis's trip, provided by her office, shows the MP met with more than a dozen government officials in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

A senior government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Guergis visited Mexico to "move our agenda along, including not only Brenda Martin's case, but all of the consular cases that are in Mexico.''

But when asked how attending the Guadalajara reception furthered Canada's diplomatic agenda, the official mulled over the question for several seconds, but couldn't produce an explanation.

Liberal MP Dan McTeague, the party's consular affairs critic, chastised Guergis for not visiting Martin at the prison.

"I think she missed a golden opportunity,'' he said.

Martin's criminal case was put on hold for two months until a Mexican judge ruled on a constitutional challenge raised by her lawyer.

Conservative MP Jason Kenney last week told The Canadian Press that Guergis couldn't do much until the judge ruled on the court challenge.

"It was really a bit of a moot question at that point,'' Kenney said.

Mexican authorities arrested Martin in February 2006 on allegations of money laundering and participating in a criminal conspiracy connected to an investment scam involving her former boss, Alyn Waage.

Waage, a former Alberta resident, masterminded an Internet scheme that bilked 15,000 investors out of nearly US$60 million. He's now halfway through a 10-year prison sentence in a U.S. federal prison in North Carolina.

Martin worked for Waage for 10 months until he fired her in 2001. She insists she knew nothing of the scam -- a claim Waage has backed in a sworn affidavit.