Office of the Historian

312.1113 Sustaita, Antonio/38

The Secretary of State to Mr. Gordon Griffin of Griffin and Kimbrough, Attorneys at Law, McAllen, Texas

Washington, July 7, 1937.

Sir: The receipt is acknowledged of your letter dated June 22, 1937,14 in further regard to the possible payment of an indemnity by the Mexican Government on account of the inadequate sentence imposed upon Miguel Valero Rodríguez for the murder of Antonio Sustaita, an American citizen.

The Department is unable, on the basis of its present information, to determine whether there exists a valid claim against the Government of Mexico. If such claim does exist it must necessarily be based upon the failure of the Mexican authorities to impose an adequate penalty upon the accused or upon a denial of justice. Whether either of these conditions obtain can only be determined from the record of the court proceedings in the trial of the accused, a copy of which in translation would have to be furnished to the Department. It would be necessary to furnish also copies in translation of the applicable Mexican laws under which the charge was made and the penalty imposed. If the facts as alleged in the trial of the accused are controverted, then an affidavit of the facts as alleged by the claimant should be furnished. It will be necessary also to submit evidence of the American citizenship of the deceased and of the claimant at the time of death and now. This evidence may be in the form of birth certificates or certificates of naturalization or affidavits by two or more persons who have known the deceased and the claimants for a considerable period of time. Finally you will be required to submit evidence of the relationship of the claimant or claimants to the deceased or of any other basis of the claimant’s interest in the matter.

If the claimant or claimants care to prepare and submit a case along the lines just indicated, the Department will examine it and inform [Page 715] you whether there exists such a claim as might appropriately be submitted to the Mexican Government.15

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
Joseph R. Baker

Acting Legal Adviser
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. No reply was received to this letter or to a letter of September 30, 1937, asking the attorneys whether they intended to submit evidence.↩