Mexican President Vicente Fox said Friday the International Court of Justice and the United Nations will have to take action if the United States doesn't comply with a ruling that it review the cases of 51 Mexicans on death row.
In an interview with the board of directors for The Associated Press Managing Editors, Fox declined to say, however, whether Mexico would take additional measures if the U.S. government does not follow the order. "We don't have any actions planned because we're expecting (the United States) to comply," he told the APME board of directors, which represents 1,700 newspapers in the United States and Canada. The board of directors is meeting this week in Mexico City.
| Don't hold your breath, El Presidente |
The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest judiciary, ruled Wednesday that the United States violated the rights of Mexican inmates by denying them assistance from their government. That right is guaranteed under the 1963 Vienna Convention. The court ordered the United States to review the Mexican cases, but the U.S. government has ignored the court's rulings in the past. Wednesday's ruling raised questions from the eight states holding the inmates, but no assurances that they will try to address the court's concerns.
| "What the hell do they want this time?" |
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said earlier this week that if U.S. officials don't comply voluntarily, Mexico would consider asking the U.N. Security Council to issue a resolution urging them to do so.
| Yawn, go ahead. We'll just veto it. |
Fox, who opposed the Iraq war and lobbied for a resolution within the U.N. Security Council, declined to say whether Mexico would take the death penalty cases to the United Nations. But he has pushed for the international body to be strengthened, saying Friday the United Nations must be given a "very, very strong moral authority that should be recognized by every nation."
| Look, he put "moral authority" and "U.N. in the same sentance! Bwahahaha! |
The death penalty has been a sore point in Mexican-U.S. relations, with Fox canceling a trip to meet with President Bush in 2002 after Texas executed a Mexican man convicted of killing a police officer. Fox is a strong opponent of the death penalty.
| Kill your killers in Mexico and we won't have this problem. |
He said Friday he hoped the United States would not only review the Mexican death penalty cases, but ensure that all future foreigners convicted of a major crime had access to consular assistance from their governments.
| As far as I can tell, the complaint here is that consulates are not automatically notified every time one of their citizens is arrested. No one is stopping the perps from requesting help, it's just that they are not told about it. They also still don't seem to grasp the concept that we have individual states with their own laws and court systems. Assholes. |
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