Posted on 08/14/2002 1:40:31 PM PDT by AxelPaulsenJr
Texas rejects death row Mexican's plea
Suarez is due to die on Wednesday
A Mexican man is to be executed later on Wednesday, after authorities rejected a plea for a stay of execution and ignored a personal appeal by the Mexican president. Javier Suarez Medina will be executed by lethal injection unless he is given a last-minute reprieve by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Suarez was 19 when he killed the undercover police officer
Mexican President Vincent Fox contacted Mr Perry late on Monday night, urging him to halt the execution to give officials "sufficient time" to review the case's "numerous violations," a statement released by Mr Fox's office said.
But on Tuesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously to reject a stay of execution.
International support
Suarez has been on death row for 13 years, after being convicted in 1989 for the murder of police officer Larry Cadena, who was working undercover in Dallas as a drug trafficker.
Suarez is just one of three death row inmates scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday, capital punishment opponents say.
Mexican foreign ministers say Suarez was not told he qualified for assistance
But his case is in the spotlight because of the support he has won internationally, from the Mexican Government, the European Union and the United Nations.
Mexican officials say the violations of his rights began shortly after his arrest, when police failed to tell Suarez - who has lived in the US since he was three years old - that he had the right to legal assistance from the Mexican consulate.
No-one disputes that Suarez murdered Mr Cadena, but he maintains he did not know his victim was a police officer.
His lawyers argue that Suarez would have avoided the death penalty if he had been given timely legal help with this claim.
"The Mexican Government was prevented from providing priority assistance that might have influenced the outcome of his trial," said Mr Fox in a letter to Mr Perry.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, also sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell calling for clemency.
She said there were "serious concerns that the trial proceedings in the case had not complied with international human rights standards."
Strained relations
If Texas goes ahead with the execution, US-Mexico relations will be severely strained.
Mexico opposes the death penalty, and opposition deputies in Mexico's Congress have even threatened to block Mr Fox's planned trip to Texas next month.
Faith is the only thing left
Suarez's aunt, Norma Alicia Sonora There are 17 Mexicans facing the death penalty in Texas and 54 throughout the US, according to the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
Four Mexicans have been executed over the past 10 years - three in Texas and one in Virginia.
In the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras, Suarez's family members spoke of their fight to save the condemned prisoner.
"Faith is the only thing left," said his aunt, Norma Alicia Sonora.
Suarez himself, however, seems resigned to die and said in a recent newspaper interview that after 13 years in prison and 14 stays of execution, he now wants it all to end.
"The truth is I hope that they now execute me," he told Mexican daily El Universal.
"I prefer to die than spend the rest of my life here inside because here there is no life."
The article states he should not be put down, because Suarez did not know that the man he killed was a cop. I say, that is all the better reason to put the animal down.
Some call for the death penalty for drug traffickers. But, when the trafficker is a government agent, the penalty is death for killing one.
Please note the double standard.
I think that the penalty is death for killing anyone. Much less a man who is working undercover to catch drug dealors.
I hate to seem uncareing but he did kill a police officer.
Adios, Javier Suarez Medina
Go to Scheduled Executions, this bad dog is next for the gurney!!
Good. Three less criminals alive in this world. That calls for a drink.
Good!!! I can't stand the relations as they are. I hope the U.S. now finally gets tough with mexico.
Anyway, the BBC has gotten it wrong. The Texas Board of Paroles and Pardons is the "last word" in Texas. The only thing Perry can do now is give the guy another thirty days, at the end of which time he'll be executed anyway.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, also sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell calling for clemency.
I thought the only person who could possibly pardon him would be the President. Since when can the Secretary of State grant pardons?
Maybe she just wants to be able to say she asked and nothing was done.
And Fox wants time to 'review the case.' ???? Give me a break! Should have been reviewing the case since 1989, Vicente Baby! Go ahead, cancel your few horas con el Presidente Bush! Just like you cancelled sending any support for our war on terrorism effort after Sept 11. Buh bye, Vicente.
I agree - and would apply the same standard to Horiuchi and other government agents who have killed innocent people in the War on (some) Drugs: Vicki and Sammy Weaver, the Branch Davidians, Anthony Sepulveda, Ishmael Mena, Donald Scott, etc. The killers of these people not only walk free but continue to retain badges and machine guns, and rule over us.
Especially if the person killed is a cop who is working undercover to rid our society of drug dealors.
He was posing as a drug trafficker, so it can be argued that the man who killed him was also working to rid our society of drug dealers, in his own way.
I will toast you on that (but not in the future - I am going back on the Atkins diet).
The drugs are scheduled to start flowing at 1800 CDT (about 20 minutes from now). The guest of honor should start approaching room temperature a few minutes after.
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