The Guatemalan Congress adopted lethal injection after...

The Guatemalan Congress adopted lethal injection after a botched firing squad execution in 1996 forced prison guards to finish off two men with pistol shots to the head, a gruesome scene replayed hundreds of times on local television. Lethal injection was applied for the first time on February 10, 1998.The country, which has emerged from a 36-year civil war, has seen its crime rate escalate, and dozens of suspected criminals have been lynched in rural areas.