MEXICO CHALLENGES US ON DEATH PENALTY CASES
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| Javier Suarez Medina’s execution last year in Texas caused widespread protests in Mexico |
January 9, 2002: Mexico filed a
complaint against the United States in the International Court of Justice
charging that American officials have violated the rights of all 54 Mexicans on
death row in the United States and asking that their executions be commuted.
In its filing with the UN court in The Hague, Mexico argued that the United
States violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which guarantees
people access to their country's diplomatic missions when accused of a crime in
a foreign country.
Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo, the Foreign Ministry lawyer who filed the complaint,
said state and local courts in the United States regularly assign Mexican
defendants public defenders who "speak little or no Spanish and have no
experience in death penalty cases." He said if the courts followed the treaty,
Mexican consulates would provide defendants Spanish-speaking lawyers who are
well-versed in US capital cases, which would greatly improve chances of a fair
trial.
"It's the difference between life and death," Gomez said.
Mexico has asked the court to recommend that the United States stay all 54
executions until the court rules. It has also asked the court to recommend that
the death sentences be reduced to life in prison and that the men be granted new
trials with lawyers provided by the Mexican government.
Of the 54 Mexicans on death row, 28 are in California, 16 are in Texas and the
others are in Oregon, Oklahoma, Illinois, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Arkansas and
Ohio, Gomez said.
A US government official said 100,000 Mexican nationals are in US prisons, so
sheer numbers make it difficult to comply with the Vienna Convention. In
addition, he said, because the United States has so many local law enforcement
agencies, it has been difficult to educate all of them about the treaty.
