WHEREAS, Cesar Roberto Fierro Reyna is a Mexican national facing imminent execution in Texas after 22 years on death row

WHEREAS, he has always maintained his innocence and no physical evidence of any kind links him to the crime;

WHEREAS, the Texas authorities violated their binding treaty obligation by failing to inform Mr. Fierro, upon arrest, of his right to seek consular assistance.

WHEREAS, Mexican consular authorities were thus unable to provide Mr. Fierro with crucial consular assistance to remedy serious irregularities in his interrogation and subsequent trial;

WHEREAS, his conviction and sentence rest on his so-called 'confession' to the murder;

WHEREAS, the appeal courts have concluded that his confession was coerced through threats of torture and that the police committed perjury to conceal their illegal conduct;

WHEREAS, the trial prosecutor has now stated that he would have moved to suppress the illegal confession and would have dismissed the charges without additional evidence;

WHEREAS, a Texas court determined in 1996 that the Fierro conviction should be reversed and a new trial held;

WHEREAS, the retrial has never taken place because the state of Texas has repeatedly appealed that ruling; noting that more than 100 prisoners have been released nationwide on grounds of innocence, and that many of these wrongful convictions were based on coerced confessions;

WHEREAS, LULAC is deeply concerned that Texas will execute Mr. Fierro despite grave and unresolved questions over the fairness of his conviction and his possible innocence;

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that this National Assembly publicly expresses its full support for the legal efforts to obtain a reversal and new trial for Cesar Roberto Fierro Reyna;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that LULAC National take immediate action on the Fierro case, by every appropriate means;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, LULAC will publicly call on the Texas authorities to grant clemency to Mr. Fierro by commuting his death sentence.

Submitted by LULAC Council #132, El Paso, Texas.

Approved this 29th day of June, 2002.

Hector M. Flores
LULAC National President