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HIDALGO COUNTY
Mexican national set for execution Border tensions rise following Texas’ decision By Keri Blakinger H OUSTON CHRONICLE
Texas this month is poised to execute a Mexican national accused of rape and murder in a case that could further inflame border tensions over apparent violations of the Vienna Convention and international law.
UNITED NATIONS
The Mexican government is now funding legal efforts by Ruben Cardenas Ramirez to halt his execution after authorities neglected to notify Mexico about the arrest and failed to hold a review as required by the United Nation’s international court in The Hague. “It is as if the United States
were thumbing its nose at the government of Mexico and the United Nations,” said Sandra Babcock, a Cornell Law School professor specializing in international issues surrounding capital punishment. “And when I say the U.S., I should be clear that we’re talking about Texas.” To make matters worse, the condemned man’s lawyer is alleging that he didn’t actually commit the crime that earned him a death sentence in the first place. But according to Hidalgo County prosecutor Ted Hake,
the U.N. ruling is “not enforceable” and there’s no mechanism to hold the required review under Texas law. “There’s no point,” he said. “This guy is guilty as sin.” But it is not claims of innocence that are the crux of Mexico’s gripe over the case. “It’s a significant treaty violation,” said Gregory Kuykendall, an Arizona attorney authorized to speak on behalf of Mexico. “What separates us from anarchy is our commitment to due process and that’s the pro-
cesses of the laws that are in effect in both the United States as well as internationally,” said Kuykendall, who directs the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program, a program created by Mexican officials to fight death penalty cases for Mexican nationals in the U.S.. “Our treaty commitments reign supreme.” The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has weighed in with a resolution recommending that the U.S. vacate the death sentence, and Execution continues on A10
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
SUIT SEEKS RELEASE OF IMMIGRANT GIRL
Adalberto Roque / AFP/Getty Images
Vehicles pass by the US Embassy in Havana on Oct. 26.
Trump admin to defend Cuba embargo Darren Abate / San Antonio Express-News
Reversing Obama-era relations
Phyllis Logan, center, leads protestors in chants calling for the release of Rosa Maria Hernandez on Monday in downtown San Antonio. The protestors assembled outside of the office of Sen. John Cornyn to call for the release of Rosa Maria Hernandez, a 10-year-old undocumented Mexican girl with cerebral palsy who is being detained by ICE.
Laredoan remains detained, faces deportation
By Matthew Lee and Josh Lederman
By Jason Buch
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
SAN ANTONIO EXPRE SS-NEWS
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will defend America’s decades-old economic embargo on Cuba in a United Nations vote this week, the State Department said Tuesday, in a reversal from the Obama administration that reflects deteriorating U.S.-Cuban relations. Every year the U.N. votes to condemn the embargo, and for years the U.S. predictably voted “no.” But last year, under President Barack Obama, the U.S. abstained for the first time, as Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro moved forward with the historic warming of relations. A “no” vote Wednesday from U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will return the
he American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a lawsuit demanding the federal government return to her family a 10-year-old girl who is in government custody after being put into deportation proceedings last week by Border Patrol agents who followed her to a hospital. In its lawsuit, the ACLU alleged that Rosa Maria Hernandez, who has cerebral palsy and is at a San Antonio child care facility, is being unlawfully detained and should be allowed to return to her family in Laredo and continue treatment after undergoing gall bladder surgery last week. “It is unconscionable to
Cuba continues on A10
Suit continues on A10
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Courtney Sacco / AP
In this Oct. 25 photo, a U.S. CBP agent walks away after helping to place an undocumented 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy in the back of an ambulance in Corpus Christi.