Mexican farce

"The irony is by that charging Echeverría with genocide, he may have ensured impunity.  The justice system in Mexico has a theatrical dimension to it, and the performance of the special prosecutor is increasingly looking like tragedy disguised as farce."

     ---George Vickers, Latin America director at the Open Society Institute in Washington, quoted in today's New York Times, upon learning that a judge threw out the genocide charge against former Mexican President Echeverría.  The charge was thrown out under the argument that it had passed the 30 year statute of limitations, but others noted that the murders also didn't logically qualify as "genocide." Both the Times and the Post noted that analysts were skeptical the charge would stick, but only George (among U.S. commentators) dared to tell it like he saw it.