Guatemalan president vetoes law that would reinstate death penalty

[Judi Lynn]

Guatemalan president vetoes law that would reinstate death penalty

The Associated Press
Saturday, March 15, 2008
GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom on Friday vetoed a bill that would have reinstated capital punishment and given the president the power to commute death penalty sentences.

There are 34 prisoners in limbo on death row after a high court in 2002 suspended executions, ruling that presidential reprieves on death penalty cases were unconstitutional.

The vetoed measure, approved overwhelmingly in February by lawmakers, would have given Colom the authority to decide whether the prisoners in question are executed by lethal injection or have their sentences commuted to the maximum 50 years in prison.

"If (the death penalty) were a disincentive, we would reinstate it," Colom said. "But we have studied cases in various states in the United States, and it doesn't dissuade" crime.
(snip)

Lawmakers can override Colom with a two-thirds supermajority.

"We know (the veto) could have a political cost," Colom said at a news conference. "But a president doesn't work for votes, and what had been approved was unconstitutional."

He said "strengthening security institutions" is the best way to fight crime in Central America's most violent country, where gangs are rampant and as few as 2 percent of more than 5,000 homicides a year are solved.

The last time Guatemala executed a prisoner was in 2000, when two members of a kidnapping ring were executed by lethal injection on live television.

More:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/15/america/LA-GEN-Guatemala-Death-Penalty.php