Foreign Policy posts commentary by J.Dana Stuster, "Texas to Washington: Executing Mexicans is our business, not yours." It's also available as an OpEd from the Miami Herald.
When Texas executed Edgar Arias Tomayo last week, he became the third Mexican national to receive the death penalty in that state since 2008. And if it takes three events to establish a trend, then the trend is set: Every few years, Texas begins the process to execute a Mexican convict on death row. Next, the Mexican government and U.S. State Department object. Then Texas shrugs and goes ahead.
Tomayo and the two previously executed Mexican nationals are not sympathetic characters. Tomayo was convicted of shooting a Houston police officer three times in the back of the head in 1994; José Medellin and Humberto Leal Garcia were both convicted on rape and murder charges. Their guilt is not the State Department and Mexican government’s issue with the cases.
Rather, the concern is that Medellin, Leal Garcia and Tomayo were not notified of their right to legal assistance from the Mexican consulate upon their arrest. That’s a violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which states that foreign nationals have a right to contact and consult with consular officials from their countries upon their arrest. Not only does the United States have an obligation, by law, to inform arrested foreign nationals of their rights, the State Department argues, but adhering to that law is important to make sure that Americans abroad are afforded the same protections.
And:
Ramiro Hernandez Llanas, the next Mexican national cited in Avena, is scheduled to be put to death on April 9th.
Earlier coverage of the case begins at the link. Related posts are in the foreign citizen and international law category indexes.
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