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On December 14, 1992, Judge Edward Rafeedie of the United States District Court acquitted Dr. Humberto Alvarez-Machain, a Mexican doctor who was kidnapped from Mexico in 1990 to stand trial in Los Angeles on the torture and murder of a U.S. drug agent, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena Salazar. The acquittal of Dr. Alvarez-Machain on all charges precludes further trial or holding of Dr. Alvarez-Machain. Although the acquittal will temporarily ease some of the pressure from the controversy surrounding the decision by the U.S. Government to arrogate to itself the right to kidnap citizens of countries in certain circumstances, the case will not end the demands by foreign governments to renegotiate their extradition treaties with the U.S…[more]