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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 29, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
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EXECUTION IN TEXAS: A SLAP IN THE FACE TO MEXICAN
SOVEREIGNTY
By Greg Butterfield
In a racist slap in the face to Mexico's national
sovereignty, the state of Texas and the Bush
administration
went ahead with the Aug. 14 execution of Javier
Suarez
Medina, a former fast-food worker, over protests
from
Mexican President Vicente Fox.
A Mexican citizen, Suarez was denied his consular
rights
after his arrest in 1988 for killing an undercover
cop
posing as a drug trafficker. He was then 19 years
old.
Suarez was never notified of his rights under the
Vienna
Convention of 1963 to seek representation and
assistance
from the Mexican government. The Mexican Embassy
was never
notified of Suarez's case through his entire trial,
or after
his conviction and death sentence. The Mexican
government
only learned of the case during an
appeal.
Mexico has outlawed the death penalty and refuses
to
extradite suspects who may face execution to the
U.S.
Currently 17 Mexican citizens are on death row in
Texas.
The Mexican government and people are acutely aware
of the
racist character of the death penalty, especially
as it is
applied in Texas, and of the lack of even the most
basic
safeguards and standards of representation for poor
defendants.
"Whenever a Mexican citizen is facing the death
penalty,
prompt and extensive consular support is provided
to ensure
that the defendant has everything necessary to
mount a full
and fair defense," said a statement from the
Mexican
Embassy. "In case after case, timely assistance
from the
Mexican authorities has meant the difference
between life
and death."
INTERNATIONAL PROTEST
On Aug. 9 the United Nations Sub-Commission on
Human Rights,
composed of 26 independent human rights experts,
called on
Washington to intervene to stay Suarez's execution
and
reexamine the case.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson
sent a
letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell
expressing her
"serious concerns that the trial proceedings in the
case had
not complied with international human rights
standards."
Thirteen Latin American and European countries
joined Mexico
in filing a "friend of the court" brief with the
U.S.
Supreme Court when Suarez's attorney sought a
last-minute
reprieve there.
The Mexican Senate took out full-page ads in
several Texas
newspapers. President Fox spoke to President George
W. Bush
and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and wrote a letter to
Perry
spelling out why the execution was
illegal.
All of it was to no avail. Washington did not
intervene to
stop the execution. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected
the
appeal. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
voted 17-0 to
go ahead with the lynching, lacking even the usual
"legal"
pretext. And Perry refused to grant a 30-day stay
to
reexamine the case.
Suarez died by lethal injection at 6:23 p.m. Aug.
14 in the
Huntsville, Texas, death chamber. Outside, the
Texas Death
Penalty Abolition Movement and other death-penalty
foes
protested.
Protests also took place in Mexico City, in front
of the
U.S. Embassy, and in Zocalo Plaza. There farmers
from San
Salvador Atenco, whose militant protests forced the
Fox
government to drop plans to build an airport on
their lands,
rallied against the execution and to drop criminal
charges
against their leaders.
That night, Fox's spokespeople held a news
conference
announcing that he had canceled a scheduled
four-city tour
of Texas, including a visit to Bush's ranch. "This
decision
is an unequivocal signal of rejection of the
execution," Fox
said in a statement. would be inappropriate, under
the
lamentable circumstances, to go ahead with the
visit to
Texas."
ORDERS CAME FROM THE TOP
The White House responded with a patronizing
statement about
Bush's and Fox's "excellent professional
relationship and
strong friendship."
Bush's refusal to intervene should not be taken to
mean he
had a hands-off policy toward the Suarez execution.
In fact,
it is impossible to believe that Bush was not
involved in
the decision to go ahead with the lynching when
high-level
international relations were at stake. The decision
to kill
Suarez came from the top.
As governor of Texas, Bush directly oversaw the
illegal
execution of another Mexican citizen, Miguel
Flores, in
November 2000, while the results of the
presidential
election were in disarray. Flores had also been
denied his
consular rights. The Clinton administration stood
by quietly
and did nothing.
In 1999, Bush had overseen the illegal execution of
a
Canadian, Stanley Faulder. His arrogant answer at
that time
was that "the state of Texas never signed the
Vienna
Convention," as if the state was not bound by the
treaties
signed by the U.S. government. That argument was
echoed by
prosecutors in the Suarez case.
In all, Bush oversaw 152 executions--more than any
other
governor in the country. Most of those killed were
Black and
Latino. All were poor and working-class
people.
For public consumption, Bush and Fox--a pro-U.S.
former Coca-
Cola executive--have tried to portray themselves as
buddies
and equals who have each other's ear on matters
ranging from
trade to immigration policy.
But the Suarez execution shines a spotlight on the
true neo-
colonial character of the relationship. Bush, as
head of the
powerful imperialist empire, has no respect for
Mexico's
sovereignty or the pleas of his "good friend"
Fox.
- END -
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