Breathe
By Heidi Putscher, Lawyer, writer and author of El Roedor - Andrés Roemer, portrait of a predator.
The extradition of Andres Roemer and the war between Israel and Hamas
In a deserted Jerusalem, usually full of life, sits Andres Roemer: under arrest until a court decides on his extradition to Mexico. Meanwhile on Monday, a week after his arrest was announced, anti-aircraft sirens sound in the capital alerting the population to rockets launched from the Gaza Strip. Explosions from the Iron Dome anti-missile system can also be heard. It intercepts enemy rockets with a success rate of over 90%.
I wonder how Andrés is living his new reality?
I met him about twenty years ago. I did my social service with him when I was studying law at Ibero. He translated and transcribed the texts he gave me for what would later become his book Enigmas and Paradigms. It was only a few days of work because he barely knew me and he was already putting his hand on my leg. I was very sorry to leave the National Council for Culture and the Arts. I wanted to work there. I was happy. But the harassment and then the harassment at work and the humiliation of Andrés made it impossible for me to stay.
I can say that I met him... yes. We had lunch together. We talked about trivial and profound topics. We went to the movies as a group, during working hours. He showed me his books. He showed me the famous horoscope book he used to hook up with - he even had a photocopy made of my sign; that's when I learned that Malcolm X was born on the same day as me. One Friday, he invited my friend -who was also doing her social service- to Tepoztlán for lunch. I never really knew what happened. On Monday she sent for me at her office. She told me about her family. Her mother was a neighbor of my parents. He told me about his grandfather, the Viennese orchestra conductor. He offered to advance my career and "take advantage" of my being in a position of power. He talked to me about going out on the road in his convertible, opening a bottle of champagne and going on an adventure. He invited me to the Auditorio Nacional to see a zarzuela and offered me his driver to pick me up. Fortunately, I refused. After that, all his honey and charm disappeared. He became cold and distant. There was no more work. Why do you think there are no women here, I was told. I was advised to "capotearlo". When I talked to him to "fix" things, he humiliated me. He had no time to waste with me. He was important, with a great track record, author of more than eight books, Harvard and Berkley educated. And me... Who was I? What had I ever done in my life?
Andrés signed the letter terminating my social service. It was the idea of his friend, "JM", his right-hand man at Conaculta -they studied together at Harvard- "It is better to have Andrés as a friend than as an enemy, you never know where you might find him", he told me. Yes, "JM" was right. You never know where you might find him. Life takes many turns.
How will he be living this new reality, the sybarite, the bon vivant of Andrew? The one who invited bottles of wine and caviar to his alleged victims now that he is arrested in Jerusalem listening to the sirens and the nearby explosions like the rest of the population, without freedom of movement, like another inmate waiting for the day of his hearing.
Unbelievable, the twists and turns of life!
A few days ago it seemed impossible to envision this scenario: an Israel in a state of war, hundreds of civilians kidnapped and massacred, including minors, and total devastation in the Gaza Strip. Hell that was unleashed after the brutal assault perpetrated by the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, this past Saturday, October 7, by land, sea and sky. The operation called "Al-Aqsa Storm" called on Palestinians to fight against the Israeli occupation. They justified the use of violence because of the siege of Gaza and the desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque located in the Esplanade of the Mosques or Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest place in Judaism and the third for Islam after Mecca and Medina.
In fact, tempers in the region had been running high since the beginning of the year. Although the Esplanade of the Mosques has been reserved for Muslim worship since 1967, the fragile status quo could change at any time under the Netanyahu government and its new national security minister, the ultra-right-wing Itamar Ben-Gvir, who threatened to open access to the esplanade to Jews 24/7, following a surprise visit to the site in January 2023.
The minister's actions were condemned by the international community, but also by the Palestinian National Authority's Foreign Ministry, which warned that the visit was "an unprecedented provocation and a grave threat"; while Hamas claimed that Ben-Gvir's plans were "a harbinger of the ignition of the region," and called on Palestinians "to general mobilization" and to defend Al-Aqsa "from the incursions of the [Israeli] settlers and their extremist leader."
Today Andrés is under arrest in the midst of a war conflict, but his circumstances in 2016 were... diametrically opposed. At that time he was serving as Mexico's representative to UNESCO. He lived in Paris in a 15000 euro mansion and received almost 10000 euros per month -in total about 520000 pesos-. He was the ambassador with the shortest tenure before this organization -his term lasted two and a half months- because he disobeyed the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by leaving the session of the Executive Board of the international organization to avoid voting in favor of a draft decision that precisely condemned the illegal measures against freedom of worship and access of Muslims to the Al-Aqsa mosque. It should be noted that Mexico had voted in favor of this resolution on 12 previous occasions.
The "gesture" earned Roemer countless tributes and awards he received from various organizations such as the Sephardic Federation of the United States and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, as well as a meeting in 2017 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, organized by who was his Israeli counterpart at UNESCO: Carmel Shama Hacohen, former Conservative deputy in the Israeli parliament and who, once elected mayor of the city Ramat Gan, would grant Roemer the honor in life of a street named after him in 2019.
Today we know thanks to an enlightening article -Disloyalty with foreign policy-, by César Guerrero Arellano, former director of Multilateral Relations of the Mexican Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, that weeks before the Executive Board meeting, in a preparatory meeting on the participation of the Mexican delegation, Roemer was told by a Foreign Ministry official about the relevance of the draft decision on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings, who described the issue as delicate. However, Andres decided to ignore the comment and talk "about all kinds of technical issues during the rest of the meeting."
Roemer himself, consciously or unconsciously, came to publicly acknowledge his negligent and treacherous actions during his tenure at UNESCO. We know this from the speech he delivered during the inauguration of his street in 2019 and whose record has been recorded thanks to Enlace Judío. In his speech Roemer accepted that he did not think about the previous 12 resolutions and that he knew he would face decisions that would contravene Israel's interests; He also accepted that he shared priority and confidential information -subject to the confidentiality required by the Foreign Service Law-, that he communicated the direction of the vote to the representative of Israel and to the Jewish community in Mexico, and that he asked the Israeli ambassador to communicate with his ministry so that they could convince the Foreign Ministry to modify the direction of the vote; to top it off, he ended up recognizing that he ignored his responsibility -the mandate that Mexico entrusted him with- by not voting and that he would do it again and again.
Andres, in this diplomatic scandal, demonstrated gross carelessness and lack of commitment to his homeland. He was more interested in self-promotion. I agree with Guerrero Arellano when he writes: "In the modus operandi that many of his victims have narrated I recognize today very similar gestures that are intertwined with his abuse and disloyalty towards public service".
Just a few days ago, Israel's ambassador to Mexico, Einat Kranz, in an interview, commented that Roemer was awaiting a hearing in the district court in Jerusalem, which will decide on his extradition. She clarified that the process could take months and if he were to appeal his case could be elevated to higher instances such as the Supreme Court or the Supreme Court of Justice. "The standard of evidence for extradition is very high," the ambassador commented, "We have to convince the court that there is enough evidence to prosecute him in Israel. She concluded by assuring that "it doesn't matter who the person is, who he knows, what his religion is or his background. Israel complies with the law."
The ambassador's statements sound encouraging. However, I am skeptical. Roemer will use all means at his disposal to avoid extradition. As I have said in other spaces: we must walk with lead feet. Nothing is set in stone. Life takes many turns.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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