MEXICAN MILITARY WANTS TO PUT AN END TO THE DEATH PENALTY

the Mexican armed forces announced that they are in favour of formally ending the use of the death penalty in their country - where no one has been executed since 1942 - and of adjusting military law to modern times.
Defence Minister Gen. Clemente Vega said he is studying a way to remove the death penalty from military law, because it "doesn´t have any reason for existing." "In the future, this part of the law will have to be withdrawn ... This has been discussed with the president (and) I think it´s a good thing. Times are changing (and it) needs to be modernized," Vega said after a march to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.
According to Mexico´s constitution, the death penalty is restricted to special cases like treason, parricide and aggravated murder, but it is not listed in the criminal laws of any of the 32 states, only in military law. The president has constitutional authority to pardon anyone sentenced to that penalty. Soldiers Angel Velazquez and Heron Varela, who were pardoned by Fox on Wednesday, had previously been sentenced to death for the murder of two officers.
A communiqué released Thursday by the president´s office, emphasized that in theory, those sentenced to the death penalty "have always been pardoned" and that no one has been executed in decades.