The Guatemalan Penal Code (1973) provides for the death...

The Guatemalan Penal Code (1973) provides for the death penalty for parricide, aggravated homicide, and assassination of the President and Vice-President. Kidnapping and extrajudicial executions became capital offenses in 1996 but Guatemala has yet to execute any convicted kidnappers, although several are on death row. According to some observers it could be difficult for Guatemala to apply the penalty since, in 1978, this country ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, essentially pledging not to extend the death penalty to crimes other than murder. Under the 1985 Constitution the death penalty cannot be imposed on women, people over 60, those guilty of political crimes or related common crimes, or people extradited on condition that the death penalty will not be applied.