RIHLA #29

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Amnesty International is an organization that is fighting to see "every person-regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity- enjoy all the human rights": found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other internantionally recognized human right standards. This is not just a statement that people are hopping will come true on its own; Amnesty International unites people from all over the world to join and fight for human rights by doing the following: Research, keeping vigilant watch over "the right people", and by publishing hundreds of based on rigorous research. Taking ction, by campaining and long-term case work, by providing people stories of individuals at risk to international media to get the attention of the government officials, corporations, international institutions, and policy makers, and by advocating. With more than 3 million supporters, activists, and volunteers in more than 150 countries, and complete independence from the government; Amnesty International works to protect human rights.

While I was surfing Amnesty International's home page an article caught my attention: Killing the Innocent with Indifference, the story about Carlos DeLuna, an innocent men, being executed for the death of Wanda Lopez, a gas station attendant, in Corpus Christi, Texas. While Deluna's trial was goin on he stated that Carlos Hernandez was the one that stabbed Wanda Lopez, yet his prosecutors declared that Carlos Hernandez was a "phantom" made up by Deluna. The so called "phantom" created by Deluna, was, in actuallity, a real person that was well-know in Corpus Christi, Hernandez having had a criminal history was over-looked in Wanda Lopez's murder; on the contrary, Hernandez repeatedly told others that he had killed Lopez and that his tocayo was taking the blame.

This article sparked many comments on the death penalty: many agreed and many disagreed about just how wrong the death penalty is. Amnesty International is fighting to end the death penalty and advocate for the innocent that are trial unfairly. On a personal note, I find this story uncomprehensable simply being authorities had the actual killer under their noses and they chose to overlook him and not double check their evidence. I ask myself, how can a person with no criminal record be the fisrt to be investigated when a person with a similar name and criminal record is overlooked in the mist of finding the offender. DeLuna was drepived of his human rights to live a life without frear and live it freely. Yet his life was cut short by a crime that he did not comit. Its people like Hernandez that make the death penalty acceptable, but its people like DeLuna that make the death penalty wrong.

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