State executes Mexican national
1 Despite an international outcry and claims of global treaty violations, Texas on Wednesday executed Mexican national Ruben Cardenas Ramirez, who has long professed his innocence in the rape and murder of his 16-year-old cousin in the Rio Grande Valley 20 years ago. In the days before the 47-year-old’s death, Mexican officials held news conferences in Mexico City and Houston, decrying the execution they said followed from flagrant disregard for international law. Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations all condemned the state’s use of its harshest punishment.