Camarena Case Jury Selected : Courts: Less than a day is spent selecting the panel for the trial of two men charged in the drug agent’s slaying. Opening arguments begin today.

A jury including two Mexican-Americans was swiftly selected Tuesday in the case of two Mexican nationals charged in the murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena, a case that strained U.S.-Mexican relations.

The judge scheduled opening statements for today.

The 12 jurors and four alternates were accepted by defense and prosecution after less than a day of jury questioning in which the Mexican heritage of prospective jurors became an issue.

The Mexican-Americans said their ethnic backgrounds would play no role in their decision.

The defendants, Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain and Ruben Zuno Arce, are charged with complicity in the torture murder of Camarena on Mexican soil.

Alvarez, a Guadalajara gynecologist, was kidnaped from Mexico and turned over to U.S. officials. Zuno Arce is the brother-in-law of a former Mexican president.

The Alvarez case led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the kidnaping of a Mexican national did not violate a U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has protested the kidnaping as a violation of international law, again sought to stop the trial Tuesday, but was rebuffed by U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie.

In Mexico City, the foreign ministry issued a statement objecting to the trial. The statement said Alvarez should be tried in Mexico.

“The government of Mexico reiterates its position that the trial is illegal in origin and unacceptable for Mexico, since it is being carried out against a Mexican citizen who was kidnaped in a flagrant violation of international law,” the foreign ministry said.

Three of the first 12 jury prospects questioned said they were of Mexican descent, but all said this would not affect their view of the evidence.

“This case is not about race or ethnicity,” Rafeedie told the panel. “We are not here talking to people because of their race or national origin.”

He said the government would be required to prove the case with evidence and jurors would have to decide from that evidence whether the men are guilty.

“That’s not a decision that should be made because a person is from another country,” Rafeedie said.

He asked prospective jurors whether any of them considered Mexicans less trustworthy than anyone else. All shook their heads negatively.

Rafeedie warned that many witnesses on both sides of the case will be Mexican nationals who speak Spanish and that some will be testifying through the use of interpreters.

The Mexican-American prospects said they are familiar with the Spanish language but would follow instructions to listen only to the interpreter speaking in English.

“You understand that when witnesses are testifying in the Spanish language, their official testimony is what the court interpreter says, not what you think was said,” Rafeedie told them.

Alvarez and Zuno are charged in the kidnap-murder of Camarena, who was abducted in Guadalajara and tortured to death by a drug lord and his associates. Seven people have been convicted in U.S. courts and a dozen more were convicted in Mexico.

Prosecutors have alleged that Alvarez used his medical skills to keep Camarena alive while the agent was tortured and interrogated.

Zuno, who was convicted in an earlier trial, was granted a new trial by Rafeedie, who said he was misled about certain evidence.

The judge tested jurors’ knowledge of the highly publicized Camarena case, and all panelists said they were familiar with the basic facts. Several noted that the 1985 killing was “a long time ago,” and said they had forgotten the details.

“The question I want to ask you, and this is the bottom line,” the judge said, “is if all of you believe you can try this case on the evidence and be totally impartial.”