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11/03/2005:

"Mexico Defies Washington on the International Criminal Court"

NEW YORK - If Washington follows through on threats to slash aid to Mexico as punishment for its accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC), it risks further alienating key U.S. allies and drawing attention to its own increasingly shaky human rights record, say activists.
"There will be a price to be paid by the U.S. government in terms of its credibility," Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program, told IPS.

Mexico signed the Rome Statute of the ICC in September 2000, but did not ratify the treaty and formally deposit it with the United Nations until last week, on Oct. 28, making it the 100th nation to join the ICC.

Washington had warned Mexico that if it ratified the ICC and refused to sign an accord exempting U.S. nationals from the court's jurisdiction, it would cut 11.5 million dollars in funding from aid programs for fighting drug trafficking, according to human rights groups. The amount is equal to almost 40 percent of the economic aid Mexico receives from the United States.

However, Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said last week that Mexico would not sign such an accord, and was willing to lose the aid rather than give the United States special status.
commondreams.org