The Foreign Ministry (SRE) regrets to report that Rubén Cárdenas Ramírez, a Mexican citizen, was executed today in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case.
The Mexican government conveys its deepest condolences to the family of Mr. Cárdenas Ramírez, whom it has accompanied throughout this long and complex process.
Mr. Cárdenas Ramírez is the fifth Mexican citizen to be executed in clear violation of the March 31, 2004 International Court of Justice ruling in the Avena case. The Mexican government most strongly protests the United States’ failure 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 Resolution 41/2017 issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on October 18, 2017 granting precautionary measures it requested the United States to adopt.
The Mexican government opposes the death penalty as one of the most fundamental human rights violations as well as 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 States 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 exhausted all legal, political and diplomatic avenues, using all available means in the United States and internationally to have Mr. Cárdenas Ramírez' case reviewed and to obtain a stay of execution.
Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso 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 Guanajuato, various federal legislators and the Attorney General's Office for Human Rights of Guanajuato, among others, sent letters in this regard.
The Mexican embassy in the United States also arranged for Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and the European Union to join the effort.
Multilaterally, at the request of the Mexican government, during the 1289th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies on October 25, the Council of Europe (CoE) approved a resolution on the need to abolish the death penalty, and a declaration specifically stating that the death penalty should be commuted for our fellow citizen was adopted unanimously.
Also at the multilateral level, on November 3, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso 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 noncompliance.
On November 6, at the request of Mr. Cárdenas Ramírez's defense team and Mexico's diplomatic mission in Geneva, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, called on the United States to annul the death sentence and to follow international standards of due process and fair trial. The Rapporteur said that going ahead with the execution would be tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life and the United States would be breaching its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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 Foreign Ministry reiterates its deepest condolences to Mr. Cárdenas Ramírez's family, and will continue to accompany and provide them with the necessary consular assistance.