Pubdate: Mon, 11 Feb 2002
Source: Newsweek (US)
Copyright: 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.msnbc.com/news/NW-front_Front.asp
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/309
Author: Alan Zarembo, Newsweek International

NO PLACE TO HIDE?

Mexico Is Returning More Suspects To The United States Than Ever-But U.S. 
Prosecutors Are Still Fuming

Michael Longo is a U.S. citizen.

In late December, shortly after the bodies of his wife and three children 
turned up in Oregon, he flew to Cancun. He checked in to a thatched-roof 
beach hut in the low-key town of Tulum, told tourists he was a journalist 
and even attended a town meeting.

Not long after the FBI plastered wanted posters of Longo along the coast 
and publicized the case on "America's Most Wanted"-a TV show available on 
cable in Mexico-a local turned him in. The next day the FBI flew Longo to 
Houston.

AGUSTIN VAZQUEZ MENDOZA is Mexican. In 1994 he allegedly ordered the 
killing of a U.S. drug-enforcement officer in Glendale, Arizona. He, too, 
fled to Mexico. After a manhunt that cost the U.S. government more than $1 
million, Mexican police arrested him in July 2000, and Arizona began 
extradition proceedings. At the time, the DEA chief said the arrest proved 
that the "DEA will pursue traffickers to the ends of the earth." Maybe. But 
last month a Mexican court denied the request of U.S. prosecutors to 
extradite Vazquez to Arizona for trial.

But disappearing in Mexico has never been harder.

Last year Mexico returned more than 100 U.S. fugitives, more than triple 
the number in 2000.

Two men accused of murder on U.S. soil, both subject to the death penalty 
if convicted, both seeking refuge in Mexico. Taken together, their stories 
show how well the United States and Mexico have come to cooperate on 
bringing criminals to book-and how far they have to go. Mexico has long 
refused to extradite its own citizens who would potentially face the death 
penalty.

But last fall the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that life in prison also 
violates the principle of the Mexican Constitution that all criminals can 
be rehabilitated. So while the year-old government of Vicente Fox now sends 
home wanted Americans at a record pace, returning Mexicans has become even 
more complicated. Hollywood has long portrayed the U.S. southern border as 
the gateway to freedom for criminals.

U.S. citizens need only a birth certificate to board a plane to Mexico-and 
often no document at all to cross on foot or by car. Last fall U.S. 
officials worried that accomplices in the September 11 terrorist attacks 
would flee south.

But disappearing in Mexico has never been harder.

Last year Mexico returned more than 100 U.S. fugitives, more than triple 
the number in 2000. At least half are accused of murder.

Other recent cases involve a man charged with threatening U.S. presidents 
over the Internet, an armored-car-company employee who stole $3.5 million 
and several spouses who absconded with their children in the middle of 
custody battles. Those Americans accused of capital crimes could take 
advantage of the Supreme Court ruling to challenge their returns, but few 
do. Longo, who had no lawyer in Mexico, forfeited his chance to see a judge 
and agreed to return voluntarily. More commonly, Mexico deports wanted 
Americans on immigration violations.

Sending back Mexicans is another matter.

At least 70 extradition requests-mostly for drug kingpins and murderers-are 
held up by the recent court ruling.

The U.S. government is arguing its case, but the court's decision is a big 
obstacle.

In the case of Vazquez, accused of killing the DEA agent, prosecutors may 
have to guarantee a sentence of no more than 60 years in prison, the 
maximum allowed in Mexico, if they expect to get him back. In the case of 
Mario Villanueva, a former state governor arrested last fall and charged 
with cocaine smuggling, U.S. prosecutors originally sought a life sentence.

But in their extradition request last month, they scaled back the charges 
to avoid conflict with the Mexican ruling.

Their efforts are complicated by the fact that Vazquez also faces charges 
in Mexico.

Other U.S. prosecutors are unwilling to budge.

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley made extradition a campaign 
issue in 2000, agreeing to rule out the death penalty in order to get 
fugitives back. It seemed to be paying off. Last fall Mexican police 
arrested a Mexican accused of murdering two teen-agers, and plans were 
underway to send him to Los Angeles. But then came the Supreme Court 
decision. Even if he wanted to rule out life-in-prison sentences, Cooley 
says, mandatory-sentencing laws in California would not allow him to do so. 
The court ruling, he said, threatens to turn Mexico into a refuge for 
criminals and set back its improving relationship with the United States. 
"Maybe these terrorist types will want to flee to Mexico to avoid 
extradition to the countries where they committed their crimes," he says. 
"What if Osama bin Laden shows up in Mexico tomorrow?" Good luck 
rehabilitating him.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart