Edgar Tamayo Arias Execution: Mexican Goverment Demands Life For Mexico Citizen On Death Row In US

Edgar Tamayo Arias, a Mexican citizen currently on Death Row in the United States, is scheduled for execution on January 22nd. However, the Mexican government is demanding that US Authorities stay Mr. Tamayo's execution. Mexican ambassador Eduardo Medina Mora today revealed that the Mexican government has done "everything within its reach" to prevent the execution of Mr. Tamayo and has urged the US to comply with a resolution passed by the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Edgar Tamayo Arias was arrested the 31st of January 1994 for the murder of a police officer in Houston - he is scheduled for execution in Texas. However, in 2004, the ICJ found that the United States had violated article 36 of the Vienna convention in 51 cases of Mexican citizens being given the death penalty because it did not grant them the right to consular assistance. "Our country demnads that the United States comply with its international obligation, freely accepted by that state, under the resolution of the International Cout of Justice," said Medina Mora.

Despite the ruling from the Hague, the American Supreme Court found that no such ruling existed within United States law, and therefore its Department of Justice would be exempt from the Vienna convention. Medina Mora said that Mexico has been working "intensely with the Department of State so that the US Congress [can approve the neccesary legislation]." Should Tamayo Arias' execution go ahead, it would be the third time a Mexican citizen has been put to death on American soil following the executions of José Ernesto Medellín and Humberto Leal García.