ALBAWABA - Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a statement that Andrés Roemer, a Mexican author, playwright, and former diplomat, has been captured in Israel and will be extradited to Mexico for allegedly committing rape offenses.
Since 2021, Roemer has been wanted in Mexico for allegedly molesting at least eight women. López Obrador said Roemer had been arrested and "will be extradited," although he did not specify when he would arrive in Mexico.
Roemer was positively praised in Israel after being fired as Mexico's UNESCO ambassador for voting against a 2016 resolution that effectively denied Jewish links to Jerusalem.
In October 2016, two months after arriving at UNESCO, Roemer walked out during a vote on a resolution about the Old City of Jerusalem because he was unwilling to follow his capital's instructions to vote in favor. He was eventually fired from his job.
Since then, the Mexican-Jewish diplomat has met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has been praised for his efforts to overturn the UN decision by the American Sephardic Federation, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and other Jewish organizations.
He even had a street named after him in Ramat Gan. So far, the city has refused to remove his name due to sexual assault claims, saying that nothing has been proven.
Roemer is the grandson of Viennese orchestra director Ernesto Roemer, who escaped Europe during World War II. He is also a lawyer, economist, and dramatist. He grew up in Mexico City as an "atheist Jew," and previously served as Mexico's consul-general in San Francisco.
