Guatemalans watching television saw Luis Amilcar Cetino Perez, 35, being strapped to a gurney, then mumbling a prayer as the fatal mix of chemicals flowed into his arm. An hour later, the broadcast showed Tomas Cerrate Hernandez, 39, being led to the death chamber. Both men had proclaimed their innocence.
Mr. Perez and Mr. Hernandez were the second and third Guatemalans to be executed by lethal injection, and their deaths were rebroadcast for hours on nearly all of the country's television channels. Previously, condemned Guatemalan prisoners had been executed by firing squads, the last of which was televised live in September 1996.
The executions stirred such public interest that the daily newspaper Nuestro Diario said it would publish a record number of copies Friday with extensive coverage of the condemned men's final moments.
The two men were sentenced to death for their role in the January 1996 kidnapping of Isabel Bonifassi de Botran, 80, an heir to the Botran distillery fortune. Mrs. Botran's family paid a ransom for her safe return, but her body was found days later in a house outside Guatemala City.
Their group, Los Pasaco, began with about 15 members stealing cars and robbing convenience stores and banks in 1994. It has grown into a well-organized criminal syndicate hundreds strong that specializes in high-profile kidnappings.
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