Mexico Helping in Effort to Extradite Kidnaping Suspect

Mexican prosecutors are pursuing what may be a historic extradition case against a fugitive farm worker who was arrested in the kidnaping and rape of a 4-year-old Riverside County girl, officials said Tuesday.

Last week, a Mexico City judge ordered Serapio Zuniga Rios, who had eluded authorities on both sides of the border for more than a year, to be held without bail pending a ruling on an extradition request by the United States. U.S. legislators and Justice Department officials said Tuesday they are hopeful that Zuniga will become the first Mexican national ever extradited to the United States to stand trial.

“The extradition proceeding is continuing. We feel encouraged that it’s going to happen,” said Justice Department spokesman John Russell, citing recent top-level discussions between U.S. and Mexican prosecutors.

A special team of Mexican Federal Judicial Police officers arrested Zuniga last week in an early-morning raid at the home of relatives near Zuniga’s hometown in the state of Queretaro. Zuniga, 28, is accused of abducting a girl from a ranch near Temecula in September, 1992, sexually assaulting her, and then wrapping her in a blanket and hanging it from a tree. He was allegedly enraged because he had been fired from a job at the ranch, which is owned by the girl’s parents.

The arrest was a major breakthrough in the case. The slow pace of the investigation on both sides of the border revealed a law enforcement breakdown that has allowed scores of criminals who are wanted in the United States to take refuge in Mexico, critics say.

Angry legislators threatened last month to vote against the North American Free Trade Agreement in protest of Mexico’s steadfast refusal to extradite its citizens despite a 1978 extradition treaty with the United States.

Shortly before the NAFTA vote, U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw (R-Florida)--who took interest in the case because the victim is the niece of one of his staff members--received personal assurances from Mexico’s attorney general that extradition would be pursued aggressively, according to a spokesman. Shaw subsequently voted for NAFTA.

“The congressman expects this man to be found extraditable,” Scott Spear, an aide to Shaw, said Tuesday.

Mexican authorities, always sensitive to the appearance of knuckling under to U.S. pressure, have made it clear that Zuniga will receive due process under Mexican law. At the same time, they have shown unprecedented cooperation in a case that is seen as a test of post-NAFTA relations on law enforcement issues.

For example, official statements have emphasized the fact that Zuniga does not face the death penalty in the United States--a delicate political question in Mexico, which does not have a death penalty.

A ruling on extradition is expected within two months, U.S. officials said. Under Mexican law, Zuniga could be prosecuted in Mexico instead.

The victim’s mother, who testified at congressional hearings about her crusade to bring the fugitive to justice, said she wants Zuniga extradited. Her daughter is ready to testify against him, she said.

“I’m really happy that the Mexican government followed up and found him,” said the mother, who asked to be identified only as Susan. “I was afraid it was more or less forgotten. . . . What a relief to be able to tell my daughter that he’s in jail. It’s important for her to see how the system works.”