Texas again did the unthinkable
Fellow Abolitionists,
Tonight, Texas again did the unthinkable- --it ignored the international law that guarantees someone arrested in a foreign country the right to see a representative of their country or origin.
And, not only did they thumb the nose at international law, but also at a treaty signed by the US and Honduras back in 1927, ironically called some thing like the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce.
Heliberto Chi was pronounced dead at 6:25 PM. His cousin Edgardo witnessed his execution, along with representatives of the Honduran Embassy and the Honduran Consulate. Edgardo waved at the family as he crossed the street to enter the death house.
His mother and brothers, along with 15-20 members of their extended family stood outside of the death house in the intense heat, with not even one cloud for a little shade. They were with us abolitionists before and during the execution.
His brother Hernan spoke forcefully on the microphone about the crimes of the US and how his brother was being executed because he was poor. He said that only the poor and Blacks and Latinos were treated this way by the state of Texas. "In this imperial country, there is no justice for the poor, only the rich," he said in Spanish to the crowd gathered outside the death house. He also spoke with Otis McClay on KPFT Radio who was doing the Execution Watch show on KPFT's HUD2 channel.
(You can listen to this show on every day that Texas executes someone by going to
www.KPFT.org and clicking on the HD2 channel to get the show. I think there may be a photo of Ray Hill to click on. The live show is on from 6-7:00 PM and includes reports from Huntsville as well as discussion with attorneys and family members of those on death row or activists against the death penalty.)
His baby brother, German, who is 17 years old, told me about how their grandmother in Honduras got sick in July and said she was going to die because she could not live and experience the execution of her grandson. And then she did die and was buried by the family. He said she just couldn't bare the thought of knowing that Heliberto would be murdered. So they will take Heliberto back home to Honduras to be buried by his grandmother.
The family was quiet and stoic during the execution.
Then at 6:30 when the witnesses came out of the death house, the cousin, Edgardo came out to the family and nearly collapsed in their arms, sobbing uncontrollably and saying in Spanish that it was over and that Heliberto was with Jesus now, that he was in peace.
About 5-7 Spanish language news media surrounded the cousin and the family, doing interviews and relaying stories to people around the world about Heliberto and Huntsville, the execution capital of the United States.
The baby brother, German, told me that Heliberto was happy and at peace with the execution. He said that Heliberto told him that it would fell good to never have to go back to the Polunsky Unit and live in that hell anymore.
Heliberto's last words were, "Jesus receive my spirit. I love you Edgardo. I appreciate your hard work. Thank you. O.K. Receive my spirit. Thanks, sir."
As we were gathering up banners and signs, many of the Chi family came and thanked all of us for being there and for supporting them. His mom hugged me so tight and told me in Spanish, "Thank you so very much. Your support is so important for our family. Thank you for being here."
When I explained that Kristin Wood, who was standing with me, was the wife of an innocent man set to be executed on August 21, they hugged her also and took brochures about Jeff's case. As they walked away, they were talking among themselves about Jeff and his wife. See:
www.freewebs. com/savejeffwood
The highest court of Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the highest court of the U.S., the Supreme Court, both are guilty of the legal lynching of Heliberto Chi. So are the governor and all the spineless politicians who allow this medieval ritual of murder to flourish in Texas.
The last time in my memory that two non-citizens were executed in three days was back in 1993 when Carlos Santana from the Dominican Republic and Ramon Montoya from Mexico were executed on March 23 and March 25.
Heliberto Chi, Presente!
"When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is
just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die.
And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about
justice."
"People, working together, make movements."
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Honduras laments execution of man in US
© 2008 The Associated Press
Aug. 7, 2008, 11:09PM
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' government protested Thursday's
execution in Texas of a Honduran man that the Central American
country says was arrested in violation of an international treaty.
Honduras lobbied to stop the execution of Heliberto Chi, saying he
was not permitted to contact anyone from his government after he was
arrested in California and extradited to Texas.
"We lament that in this case, the arrangements established by the
Vienna Convention treaty were not followed," the Honduran government
said in a statement.
The argument is similar to the one raised earlier this week by
Mexican-born Jose Medellin, who was executed late Tuesday night for
his part in a gruesome gang rape-slayings of two teenage Houston
girls 15 years ago.
Chi was executed for the 2001 killing of Armand Paliotta at a men's
clothing store in suburban Dallas during a robbery.
Unlike Medellin, however, Chi was not among some 50 death row inmates
around the United States — all Mexican born — who the International
Court of Justice ruled should get new hearings in U.S. courts to
determine whether the 1963 Vienna Convention treaty was violated
during their arrests. That ruling was prompted by Mexico suing the
United States in the world court in 2003.
Honduras said it would take all necessary measures to protect the
lives of the 12 U.S. prisoners in Honduran prisons after local media
reported they could be attacked in revenge.
The U.S. citizens are serving time for murder and drug trafficking
offenses, the statement said.
The Honduran government said it would repatriate Chi's remains next
week.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5931505.html
Texas's Disdain
In carrying out two executions, the state endangers Americans
detained abroad.
Friday, August 8, 2008; A16
THE STATE of Texas had an opportunity this week to display a victor's
grace. Instead, it rebuffed pleas by the U.S. secretary of state and
the U.S. attorney general for help in resolving an international
dispute and in the process gave the back of its hand to the country
and its obligations.
The issue involved two foreign nationals on Texas's death row. The
leading case involved José Ernesto Medellín, a Mexican national whom
the state executed Tuesday for his part in the 1993 gang rape and
murder of two Texas girls. There is little doubt that Mr. Medellín
was guilty: He confessed to the crimes just hours after his arrest,
and his conviction was upheld by state and federal appeals courts.
But Mr. Medellín, who spoke fluent English and had lived in the
United States since he was a child, later challenged his conviction
because Texas law enforcement officials failed to inform him of his
right under the Vienna Convention for Consular Affairs to speak with
the Mexican consulate. The state, which admitted the error, became
the subject of a dispute with Mexico before the International Court
of Justice, the judicial arm of the United Nations.
The ICJ found that Mr. Medellín and 50 other Mexican nationals on
death row in the United States were entitled to "review and
reconsideration" of their cases because of Vienna Convention
violations. President Bush ordered Texas to comply, but the state
balked, citing state laws that prevented reopening the matter. In
March, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Texas, concluding that the
ICJ ruling was not binding domestically and that the president
overstepped his bounds in trying to force the state's compliance. The
court, however, acknowledged that the United States had breached its
duties under the Vienna Convention. Justice John Paul Stevens, who
was part of the majority, urged the state to voluntarily comply or to
work toward a reasonable resolution so as to mend the breach.
Instead, Texas set this week's execution date for Mr. Medellín, which
all but foreclosed the possibility of a legislative or diplomatic
solution. In refusing to give the federal government more time, Texas
has now increased the possibility that foreign countries will not
recognize in a robust way the rights of U.S. citizens detained
abroad. Yesterday, Texas executed a second foreign national,
Heliberto Chi, a Honduran whose lawyers made arguments about his lack
of consular access.
Texas should be commended for agreeing to support federal court
review for some of the other Mexican nationals on death row. The
state must be held to that promise. And all states and municipalities
must be conscientious in the future to ensure that foreign nationals
are informed of their right to consular access.
http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2008/ 08/07/ AR2008080702989. html?nav= rss_nation/ special
Texas Executes Inmate After High Court Steps Aside
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON — An Honduran immigrant convicted of murder was put to
death in Texas on Thursday evening after the Supreme Court declined
to block the execution, despite his lawyers’ complaints that he
should have been told that he could get assistance early on from
Honduran diplomats.
The court’s ruling came without dissent and without comment.
The immigrant, Heliberto Chi, 29, was executed in Huntsville, Tex.,
for shooting to death his former boss during a robbery at a men’s
store in Arlington in 2001.
Mr. Chi’s execution is the second one this week with diplomatic
implications. On Tuesday night, Texas executed José Medellín, a
Mexican national, in defiance of an international court ruling and
despite pleas from the Bush administration that he be given a new
hearing. The Supreme Court declined to block that execution earlier
on Tuesday.
Mr. Chi was scheduled to die last fall, but he was spared along with
others on death rows in Texas and elsewhere while the Supreme Court
considered whether lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment
barred under the Constitution. In April, the justices upheld
Kentucky’s lethal-injection method in a decision that death-penalty
states took as a signal that they could resume executions.
With the lethal-injection issue settled, Mr. Chi’s lawyers tried to
persuade the justices that their client should be spared because he
was not given an opportunity to seek help from a Honduran consulate,
as required under a 1963 international treaty.
Mr. Chi’s lawyers used arguments like those used unsuccessfully by
lawyers for Mr. Medellín, whose case has been a cause of major
friction between the United States and Mexico. He was put to death
after being convicted of the rape and slaying of two teenage girls in
1993.
The outcomes in both the Medellín and Chi cases were not surprising,
given the Supreme Court’s 6-to-3 ruling in March that Texas courts
need not be bound by international judgment or the Bush
administration’s request.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/08texas.html?
_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
