UN General Assembly
1997

to obtain the commutation of their death sentences had been exhausted. In neither of the two cases was the person concerned able to contact the consulate of his country at the time he was arrested. This was a flagrant violation of article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This irregularity probably cost them their lives. There are 35 more Mexicans who have been sentenced to death in the United States, and a number of them did not have access to the consular protection to which they were entitled. The state of Texas went so far as to justify the omission by saying that it was not a party to the Convention in question. In the case of Virginia the State Department of the United States offered “profuse apologies” to the Government of Mexico after the Mexican national had been executed. Mexico wishes to denounce, in this highest forum of mankind, this appalling state of affairs. We shall be seeking an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the legality of applying the death penalty