Texas Executes Mexican; Mexicans Jealous

On the Texas execution of Jose Medellin, Mexican citizen, from the Houston Chronicle:

With Mexican news dominated by the kidnap-killing of 14-year-old Fernando Marti, the execution of Mexican Jose Medellin for the 1993 rape-murder of two girls in Texas appears to have sparked far less outrage than people here have shown in previous death penalty cases. [SNIP]

"There is no reason for outrage. The man was a rapist," said lawyer Gustavo Sanchez, 40, as he got a shoeshine on a Mexico City street. "If we had the death penalty here, there wouldn't be so many crimes."

As is nearly always the case the world over, the government has a different view than the people:

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said it sent a note of protest to the U.S. State Department about the decision to execute Medellin. The World Court ordered [sic] U.S. authorities to review the case, which drew international attention because of allegations that Medellin wasn't allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help following his arrest.

The Mexican government statement said officials "were concerned for the precedent that (the execution) may create for the rights of Mexican nationals who may be detained in that country.

Hopefully, foreigners who would rape and murder in the US will be concerned with the Medallin precedent as well. Of course, I may have a different precedent in mind than does the Mexican government.

The US execution of a Mexican national used to spark vehement citizen protests and denunciations south of the border. No more. If we think things are bad here, they are far worse down there, where police brutality takes on a whole new meaning.

Human nature is such that lawlessness will reign when the lawless have nothing to make them think twice about committing crime. No matter how often our betters tell us that humanity is basically good, unconstrained humans will stoop ever lower to prove that axiom false.