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| U.S. rebukes Mexico for death of jailed American citizen |
| By Chicago Tribune |
| Published: 05/24/2004 |
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In a case filled with irregularities and intrigue, U.S. officials have demanded that Mexico explain the prison killing last week of an American citizen who said he was tortured into confessing to the murder of a prominent journalist. Mario Medina, 23, was stabbed 88 times by at least one other inmate in a Nuevo Laredo prison, a day after the prison director assured a visiting U.S. official that Medina was safely separated from the general prison population. U.S. officials and Medina's family had feared for his safety because he said police tortured him into confessing to the March knifing death of Roberto Mora, a newspaper editor, in what police said was a fit of homosexual jealousy. Mora's colleagues, other journalists and human-rights advocates have scorned the police accusations against Medina. They are investigating whether the editor was instead the victim of ruthless drug traffickers and corrupt officials whom Mora had confronted through his newspaper, El Manana. U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza sent an unusually tough letter to the Mexican government, deploring Medina's murder and the failure to protect him despite "repeated requests." A U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington also expressed concerns this week, calling Medina's claims of torture "credible." "We were concerned above all because of the allegations of torture," said Michael Yoder, the U.S. consul in Nuevo Laredo, a town of 400,000 along the border with Texas that has experienced a recent surge in drug-related violence. In response to the U.S. protests, the attorney general for the state of Tamaulipas resigned under pressure this week. His replacement, Ramon Duron Ruiz, telephoned Yoder to assure him that the prison murder would be thoroughly investigated. |
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