Urgent Appeal to save Ramiro Ibarra, scheduled on march 4 2021
Ramiro Ibarra is sentenced to death for the ferocious strangling of a teenager in Waco, and he has been in Texas death row for almost 25 years.
His defense team mantain that his trial didn’t meet enough fairness and diligence standard as required for the case: Ibarra is mentally disabled and was denied any legal assistance from Mexican consultate, against existing international protection conventions.
In closeness to those who cannot cease from suffering after a heinous and unjust crime, we are firmly conscious that no healing could come by putting to death another human being, in condition of mental disability. There is no justice without life. There is no justice without considering, in the face of the greatest evil, the reasons of mercy.
We ask those who can decide for life to stop and consider, as increasingly achieved worldwide, any viable alternative measure of justice and clemency.
Ramiro Ibarra has been in correspondence with Alex for the past 20 years, and then with Marielle, Dirk, Peter and other pen pals. We publish an excerpt of a recent letter to Alex, confident that he will appreciate:
Letter of 14th of January 2021
Living here is not an easy thing. Though it’s been harsh, the time spent in this hell has taught me this: either you learn how to survive in this hell, or you end up going crazy, complaining about your condition when you’ve already lost your mind. Why does this happen? Because you live in a small world of only 4 × 9 feet; surrounded by walls, without seeing anyone; hearing the noise of the guards passing by without seeing them, especially now with the pandemic; receiving no visits; knowing people who used to write but have stopped doing so. Many tears have been shed in my cell. But in the solitude and darkness in which I found myself, the most beautiful path of my life opened up. This path is called Jesus, who has become for me friend and strength, and who from day to day gives me the strength to move forward; he raises me up when I fall down, in a way I don’t realize, let alone understand. Only the Lord knows why he still keeps me alive despite everything that has gone wrong. I do not know; but he knows, and for this I praise his holy and precious name.