• The Mexican government opposes the death penalty, one of the most fundamental human rights violations and a cruel and inhumane punishment that is an affront to people's dignity. 

The Foreign Ministry regrets to report that Mexican citizen Roberto Ramos Moreno was executed today in Texas, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court refused to stay the execution after his defense lawyers filed petitions this week.

Mr. Ramos Moreno is the sixth Mexican citizen to be executed in clear violation of the International Court of Justice ruling in the Avena case on March 31, 2004. The Mexican government most strongly protests against the failure of the United States to comply with the ruling, according to which it must review and reconsider the conviction and the sentence that was handed down. 

Mexico also condemns the failure to comply with the precautionary measures issued in conjunction with the case by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on November 8, 2002 that the U.S. government was requested to adopt. On November 1, 2018, the IACHR urged the U.S. to halt the execution and grant effective reparation to Mr. Ramos.

The Mexican government opposes the death penalty, believing it to be one of the most fundamental human rights violations and a cruel and inhumane punishment that is an affront to people's dignity.  It has repeatedly stated both nationally and internationally that it will continue taking actions to promote a moratorium on executions and the eventual abolition of the death penalty around the world.

Mexico will also continue to advocate for full compliance with the Avena ruling and the importance of consular notification as key parts of the work done by governments to protect their citizens under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, of which both Mexico and the United States are signatories.

On behalf of the government of Mexico, the Foreign Ministry made sure that all available legal, political and diplomatic avenues in the United States and internationally to have Mr. Ramos Moreno's case reviewed and to obtain a stay of execution were exhausted.

Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray submitted a written request to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for a stay of execution and commutation of the sentence. In addition, the National Human Rights Commission, the governor of Aguascalientes, various federal legislators and the Guanajuato Human Rights Commission sent letters in this regard.

Through the Mexican embassy in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and the European Union joined in calling for a stay of execution. We appreciate this singular demonstration of international support.

Also at the multilateral level, on October 24, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray sent letters to both the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Security Council expressing his concern for the Mexican citizen's execution and explaining the seriousness of the failure of the United States to comply with the ruling in the Avena case. 

As Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić sent a letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott requesting that the necessary measures be taken to avoid the Mexican citizen's execution.

On November 13, 2018, at the request of Mexico's diplomatic mission in Geneva on behalf of the Mexican government, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Agnes Callamard, and the Chairman-Rapporteur of the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Seong-Phil Hong, called on the U.S. government to stay the imminent execution of Mr. Ramos Moreno, expressing their concern that he did not receive a fair trial. Both warned that any death sentence carried out in contravention of a government's international obligations amounts to an arbitrary execution, and they requested that his death sentence be annulled and that he be re-tried in compliance with due process and international standards for a fair trial.

The Mexican government again urges the United States to take effective steps to prevent any of its states, including Texas, from executing Mexican nationals in disregard of the Avena ruling and in breach of its international obligations.

The government of Mexico expresses its deepest condolences to Mr. Ramos Moreno's relatives.