Death Penalty Worldwide has recently confirmed that between 2005 and February 2012, the Supreme Court of Justice of Guatemala commuted all pending death sentences to the maximum imprisonment for the offender\u2019s crimes. As a result, there currently are no death row inmates in Guatemala. The commutations were issued in response to a set of two rulings issued in 2005 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Raxcac\u00f3 Reyes v. Guatemala and Ferm\u00edn Ram\u00edrez v. Guatemala. The Inter-American Court found that Guatemala\u2019s death penalty violated the country\u2019s international obligations in several respects: because it allowed for the mandatory death penalty, because it created new crimes that were punishable by death, and because there was no clemency process.<\/p>\n
Guatemala is considered an abolitionist de facto state by the United Nations, meaning that it has not carried out any executions in the past 10 years. \u00a0Guatemala has not executed anyone since 2000. Guatemala has also twice voted in favor of the United Nations General Assembly\u2019s Resolution to institute a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty, in 2007 and 2010 (in 2008, Guatemala abstained from voting).<\/p>\n
The commutations by the Supreme Court were an enormously significant step forward for this Central American country. \u00a0However, in Guatemala the death penalty still exists in national legislation and therefore its courts may pronounce death sentences at any time. Currently, Guatemala has a de facto moratorium on the application of the death penalty, primarily because of the legal vacuum regarding the procedure to request a pardon. \u00a0Over the past few years, including in 2012, Congress has proposed three bills establishing a clemency procedure with a view to resuming executions. The first two bills were vetoed by the president, and the most recent one is still making its way through the legislative process.\u00a0\u00a0 The current President has resolved to carry out executions during his tenure, but until Guatemala adopts a clemency procedure any executions would violate Guatemala\u2019s international obligations.<\/p>\n
Today, 15 years after the peace accords were signed, Guatemala is plagued by widespread insecurity, violence, and crime. \u00a0\u00a0In her March 2012 visit to Guatemala, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, recommended that Guatemala abolish the death penalty. Nevertheless, abolition is not likely to happen any time soon because during the current period of high public insecurity, certain sectors persistently advocate for its reinstatement.<\/p>\n