Which Doctor?

Although the kidnapping of Humberto Alvarez Machain, a Guadalajara gynecologist, severely strained U.S.-Mexican relations, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he could be tried in Los Angeles. Now, though, he has been freed by District Judge Edward Rafeedie, who ruled that there was no direct evidence that Alvarez participated in the 1985 murder of Drug Enforcement Administration operative Enrique Camarena. Alvarez admitted being in the house where Camarena was tortured and killed, but a Mexican policeman reported to the American FBI that another physician had also been there. Mexican President Salinas hailed Alvarez’s release as a “correction of an insult to law.”