Mexico & Nafta - February 2014 (ISSN 1741-444X)

On 22 January Edgar Tamayo Arias, a Mexican national who had spent 20 years on death row in Texas for the murder of a policeman in Houston in 1994, was executed by lethal injection. Mexico had appealed for the case to be reviewed, arguing that Tamayo had been denied due process as per the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty signed by both governments. Partly based on Mexico’s appeal, US Secretary of State John Kerry also asked for a review, but was turned down by Texas Governor Rick Perry, an outspoken supporter of the death penalty and critic of President Barack Obama. With the next execution of a Mexican citizen due for April, the issue could turn into a major irritant, potentially affecting the North American Leaders’ Summit coming up on 19 February, which will be hosted by Mexico.

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