2000: Two kidnappers, televised by Guatemala
June 29th, 2008 Headsman
On this date in 2000, Amilcar Cetino Perez and Tomas Cerrate Hernandez were executed on live television in Guatemala for kidnapping and murdering a liquor heiress.
The televised Perez execution began at 6:05 a.m., with Hernandez (reportedly “shaking badly”) following at 7:15. Both took some minutes; Amnesty International has charged that they were botched and the prisoners suffered prolonged suffering. The macabre spectacle was replayed on Guatemalan TV throughout the day.
So daunting (or puffed-up) was the menace posed by the Los Posaco kidnapping-and-extortion gang they belonged to, the president sent his family to Canada to shield them from reprisals.
Today’s casualties were the second and third persons to die by lethal injection in Guatemala, and remain to this date the last.
They might not retain that distinction long, however. Legislation earlier this year filled a legal gap that had caused a five-year moratorium on executions — ironically, by restoring the president’s power to pardon and commute death sentences.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1998: Bahram Khan, by his victim’s brother
- 1995: Richard Snell - did he go out with a bang?
- 2002: Aileen Wuornos, Monster
Entry Filed under: 20th Century, Capital Punishment, Common Criminals, Crime, Death Penalty, Execution, Guatemala, Kidnapping, Lethal Injection, Murder, Organized Crime, Public Executions, Ripped from the Headlines
Tags: 2000, alfonso portillo, amilcar cetino perez, bonifassi de botran, guatemala city, june 29, television, tomas cerrate hernandez
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3 Comments Add your own
1. Wicho | July 5th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
It’s interesting how it is written “The macabre spectacle”, concerning their execution, but nothing is said about the “macabre death” the “liquor heiress” undergo. She was over 80 years old. Shame on you for defending this “monsters”, yes, monsters because for their greed to make easy money the torture families and nations with kidnapping. You have to live it to write about it. It’s easy to write like this when no one in your family has been kidnapped or lives with the threat of it.
2. Headsman | July 6th, 2008 at 4:13 am
You’re right. Televised executions aren’t “macabre” unless the convict’s victim was under 40.
My mistake.
3. Anthony | June 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Your commenter has a point. The sarcasm about the “daunting…menace” of the criminals would seem to discount both the viciousness of their particular crime and of the point of making an example.
Whether one believes in capital punishment or not, the reason these were broadcast obviously meant to address a broader menace than the two convicts presented.
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