Mexico Pressured to OK Extraditions : Law enforcement: Congressional hearing will focus on the country’s reluctance to hand over citizens wanted for crimes in the U.S.--such as the rape of a Riverside County child. Meanwhile, some cross-border prosecutions do take place.

Spurred by the kidnap-rape of a 4-year-old Riverside County girl and mounting concern over crimes committed by Mexican nationals, Congress begins hearings today on Mexico’s policy against extraditing its citizens who are wanted in the United States.

Coming only a week before the vote on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the debate shows that the proposed international partnership must overcome doubts about the rule of law south of the border, a perennial concern of human rights activists.

The rape case has revealed a bureaucratic quagmire in both nations that allows some criminal suspects to take refuge in Mexico with seeming impunity. U.S. legislators and prosecutors criticize Mexico’s refusal to extradite its nationals despite a 1978 treaty under which the Unites States has extradited at least five citizens to Mexico.

In response, both governments are strengthening a little-known, complex alternative to extradition that has been pursued successfully for years in Mexico by the Los Angeles Police Department and a few other agencies: cross-border prosecution of fugitives.

The emotional issue lends itself inevitably to political partisanship; legislators have even said it could affect the coming vote on NAFTA.

“If we cannot count on the Mexican government’s full and effective cooperation in very serious law enforcement matters, then how much confidence can we have in their readiness to uphold other commitments?” said U.S. Rep. George Brown, (D-San Bernardino) who will testify at the hearings of the House subcommittee on information, justice, transportation and agriculture.

Mexican Atty. Gen. Jorge Carpizo established a special federal unit in October that will oversee prosecutions of Mexican fugitives wanted in the United States. The goal “is to solve for the time being the fact that Mexico does not extradite its nationals,” said Mexican Ambassador Jorge Montano recently. “We don’t want this to be an excuse.”

Carpizo announced the measure after meeting with Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, who has expressed concern about “people who commit horrible crimes of violence in the U.S. and go to Mexico, where they are apparently eluding justice,” said Drew Arena, director of the Justice Department’s office of international programs. The department will also aid foreign prosecutions by local agencies, Arena said.

Although precise statistics are scarce, experts agree that the problem is significant.

The California Department of Justice estimates that up to 20% of violent crimes committed by Latinos in Los Angeles involve fugitives believed to be in Mexico. At least half the robbery and homicide suspects in Fresno County are thought to have fled across the border, according to officials. Riverside County authorities say two dozen pending investigations of serious crimes, including multiple murders, have stalled for the same reason.

Mexico is among many countries that decline to extradite their citizens, though it does extradite non-Mexicans arrested in its territory. But critics argue that the much-crossed common border requires unique cooperation and policy. Diplomats are negotiating a ban on cross-border kidnapings, an agreement sought by Mexico after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration abducted a suspect in the murder of drug agent Enrique Camarena in 1985.

“I think extradition ought to be open for discussion,” said Rep. Gary Condit (D-Ceres), the subcommittee chairman. “Some of our agencies don’t even pursue certain kinds of crimes because it’s not worth the effort.”

In the Riverside County case, the suspect fled to Mexico and remains at large despite manhunts in both nations and appeals by the U.S. secretary of state and attorney general. The victim’s family tracked down Serapio Zuniga Rios within weeks of the attack in September, 1992, but has been frustrated by the slow official response.

The case has gained national attention. Syndicated columnist Mike Royko joined the fray, declaring: “I am against NAFTA because of Serapio Zuniga Rios.”

Zuniga, 28, has a wife and two children in Mexico. A legal U.S. resident, he worked sporadically for about six years at a flower ranch run by the victim’s family near Temecula. His employers trusted him enough to let him watch their home while they were away. But they fired him last year after a string of thefts.

Enraged, Zuniga declared that he would make the family pay, according to authorities. On the night of Sept. 13, after drinking and challenging other laborers to fights, he repeated his threats of revenge at a squatters’ camp near the ranch. Then he set off on his bicycle, police say.

Zuniga allegedly sneaked into his former employer’s house through a garage. He spirited their 4-year-old daughter from her bed and brought her to a trailer on his bicycle, authorities say. He sexually assaulted her, choked her and bit her viciously on the back, according to authorities.

And after making himself a meal, authorities say, Zuniga tied the girl in a blanket and left the macabre bundle hanging from a tree.

The girl managed to free herself. She was found wandering in the brush the next morning, bloody and dazed.

Riverside County sheriff’s detectives say evidence points to Zuniga: Witnesses had seen him near the scene and heard his talk of revenge. Descriptions of his clothes and bicycle matched the victim’s account. He reportedly left for Mexico within days.

Authorities were pessimistic about pursuing the case in Mexico, the mother said. The parents kept pushing, aided by a relative who works on Capitol Hill.

And for $25,000, a private detective with Mexican police contacts found Zuniga in his village in the state of Queretaro in October. Zuniga was living with his family and working as a truck driver, according to the victim’s parents. The parents were told that for the right price the fugitive could be kidnaped and brought north clandestinely.

But “I wanted something good to come out of this,” said the girl’s mother, whose name is Susan. “I wanted him tried and found guilty. And I wanted the system to work for everybody else.”

It was not until March that the Justice Department asked the State Department to seek extradition, officials said. The U.S. ambassador contacted Mexican officials informally to emphasize the extraordinary interest.

In theory, Mexican law permits extradition of nationals in exceptional cases. U.S. prosecutors felt that “the extreme brutality of the crime and the strength of the evidence . . . would fully justify its treatment by Mexican authorities as an ‘exceptional case,’ ” according to a Sept. 29 letter from Assistant Atty. Gen. Sheila Anthony.

The extradition request was filed in June. Secretary of State Warren Christopher discussed it with his Mexican counterpart, diplomats appealed to Atty. Gen. Carpizo and legislators wrote to President Carlos Salinas De Gortari.

The entreaties failed. Mexican authorities say they declined extradition and instead issued an arrest warrant in June. Police went looking for Zuniga shortly thereafter, said Gustavo Gonzalez Baez, the attorney general’s attache at the Mexican Embassy in Washington.

In what Mexican officials call “one of the biggest operations in many years,” a task force of about 20 federal police agents has been hunting for Zuniga.

“We are indignant about the facts of the case and we will not rest until we have arrested this suspect,” Gonzalez said.

But questions linger about how aggressively Mexican officials acted.

The FBI told Rep. Brown’s staff that investigators determined that Zuniga may have remained in his hometown until early August, according to Bill Goold, Brown’s spokesman. The Mexican government’s version “fundamentally contradicts what we were told by the FBI,” Goold said.

And prosecutors and congressmen say they received no formal Mexican reply until after Brown spoke about the case on the House floor in late September.

Investigators believe Zuniga may have returned to California, where he faces charges including sexual assault on a child, kidnaping, assault intending great bodily injury and burglary.

“I’m afraid for my daughter’s life,” Susan said. “If he was crazy enough to do what he did, what if he’s crazy enough to try to get rid of her? I’m afraid for all of our lives.”

Susan’s daughter has recovered physically, but she no longer delights in new experiences as she once did; she is often fearful.

The family has moved, abandoning their business, dedicating themselves to their crusade. They will testify before the congressional committee today.

The girl’s family is wealthy and politically connected. In contrast, most victims of criminals who flee to Mexico tend to be working-class Mexicans themselves, often illegal immigrants with little clout, said Riverside County Sheriff Cois Byrd.

“Regardless of your immigration status, you have a right to expect that if you are murdered, the criminal will be brought to justice,” said Byrd.

The major weapon in bringing fugitives to justice is prosecution in Mexico, which is allowed under Mexico’s penal code for crimes committed abroad. A few U.S. agencies have units whose experienced, bilingual investigators work closely with counterparts in Mexico.

The San Diego County district attorney has submitted 83 cases to Mexican courts in the last seven years, many in Baja California. Most are murders and serious felonies causing injuries. The results: 69 convictions, three acquittals, and the rest pending.

For the most part, the Mexican judicial system proves stern and effective, said investigator Ernest Halcon of the district attorney’s office.

“I trust them in the pursuit of the law,” said Halcon, a regular visitor to the Tijuana state prison that houses inmates he helped convict. “They do diligently try to find offenders.”

The polyglot immigrant mix of Los Angeles sends the Police Department’s foreign prosecutions unit on the trail of fugitives all over Mexico and Central America. About half of the 200 cases since 1985, mainly homicides, have resulted in arrests or have been otherwise cleared, said Detective Arturo Zorrilla. Chances of conviction are “close to 100%” after an arrest, he said.

However, frequent turnover in Mexican law enforcement agencies has impeded some investigations. The prosecutions are laborious, requiring travel, abundant evidence, meticulous translation of paperwork and an understanding of Mexican law and culture. Many U.S. agencies do not have the necessary expertise or resources.

“The treaty provides for prosecution of 31 different types of felonies,” said Goold. “In practice, that’s been reduced to a small subset of murders where we can provide them with a smoking gun.”

While Mexico’s refusal to extradite its citizens remains unchanged, federal prosecutors in San Diego are preparing a voluminous extradition case against four local street gang members accused in one of the most notorious crimes in recent Mexican history: the killing of the Cardinal of Guadalajara in May. DEA agents and police tracked down and arrested the suspects in California this summer at Mexico’s request.