Libro Tercero. De las faltas

In the matter of minor offenses, the provisions contained in Book One of this Code are applicable, to the extent pertinent, with the following modifications:

1º.For minor offenses, only principals may be punished.

2º.Only completed minor offenses are punishable.

3º.The confiscation of the instruments and effects of minor offenses, provided for in Article 60, shall be ordered by the tribunals, according to the circumstances

4º.Recidivism in minor offenses shall not be considered after one year has elapsed from the date of the previous judgment.

5º.The security measures established in this Code may be applied to the principals of minor offenses, but in no case shall they exceed one year.

6º.Only acts which, under this Code, do not constitute a crime shall be punished as a minor offense.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of twenty to sixty days:

1.Whoever causes injuries to another that produce illness or incapacity for work for ten days or less.

2.Whoever, finding a minor under twelve years of age abandoned or lost, does not present him to his family or to the authority, or fails to take him to a place of safety.

3.Whoever, in a tumultuous brawl, shall have exercised any violence upon the person of the victim, provided that the latter has suffered only minor injuries and it is not established who was the perpetrator.

If the act is not covered by the provisions of Book Two of this Code, it shall be sanctioned with arrest of twenty to sixty days:

1.Whoever fails to aid or assist a person whom he encounters in an unpopulated place, wounded or in danger of perishing, when he could do so without risk or detriment to himself.

2.Whoever, verbally, driven by anger, threatens another with causing him a harm that constitutes a crime, and by his subsequent acts demonstrates that he does not persist in the idea expressed by his threat.

3.Whoever causes another unjust coercion or vexation.

4.Spouses, persons in a de facto union or concubines who cause scandal with their domestic dissensions.

5.Whoever threatens another with a weapon or draws it in a brawl, unless it involves legitimate defense.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of fifteen to forty days:

1º.Whoever causes injuries that do not prevent the victim from engaging in his habitual work.

2º.Whoever mistreats his spouse, a person with whom he is in a de facto union or a cohabitant, when he does not cause him injury.

3º.Whoever, without being covered by Article 141, throws stones or objects at another without causing him harm.

4º.Whoever mistreats another person by deed without causing him injury.

5º.Whoever by word threatens another with causing him a harm that does not constitute a crime.

6º.The father or person in charge of the guardianship or custody of a minor, who exceeds in his correction, provided he does not cause him injury.

7º.Those in charge of the guardianship or custody of minors, who abandon them exposing them to corruption, or do not provide them with assistance and education.

8º.Whoever has himself accompanied by minors in vagrancy or begging, or makes them work in violation of labor laws and provisions.

9º.Whoever, being obligated and able to provide maintenance, resists complying with his obligation, giving rise to his being sued judicially.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of ten to thirty days:

1º.Whoever slightly insults another, if the offended person files a complaint.

2º.Whoever, when requested by another to prevent harm, fails to provide assistance, if no harm or damage could result to him.

They shall be punished with arrest of twenty to sixty days:

1º.Whoever commits theft of a movable thing whose value does not exceed one hundred quetzales.

2º.Whoever commits swindling, misappropriation or other fraud whose patrimonial harm does not exceed two hundred quetzales.

3º.Whoever, finding a lost thing, fails to deliver it to the authority or to its owner if he knows who he is, and disposes of it as his own, when its value does not exceed three hundred quetzales.

4º.Whoever, for interest or profit, interprets dreams, makes divinations or prognoses, or otherwise similarly abuses public credulity.

5º.Whoever acquires objects of suspicious origin, purchased from a minor or from a person who may be presumed not to be their legitimate owner.

6º.Whoever destroys, deteriorates or impairs, partially or totally, a thing belonging to another, causing damage not exceeding ten quetzales.

7º.Whoever destroys or demolishes, totally or partially, a hut, shelter, hedges, fences, enclosures or other defenses of properties, if the act does not constitute a crime, or whoever causes damage by throwing any kind of objects from outside.

8º.Whoever enters another's fenced estate, if its character as private property or the prohibition on entering is manifest.

9º.Whoever, without authorization, enters to hunt or fish in a closed estate or restricted field.

10.Whoever enters another's estate or field to gather fruits and eat them on the spot.

11.Whoever enters another's estate or field or gathers fruits, standing crops or other forest products, to throw them on the spot to animals, if the value does not exceed ten quetzales.

12.Whoever causes a fire, if the act does not constitute a crime.

Whoever deliberately introduces animals into another's enclosed estate or field and they cause damage, if the act does not constitute a crime, shall be sanctioned with arrest of thirty to sixty days.

The same sanction shall apply if the livestock enter due to abandonment or negligence of the owner or the person in charge of their care.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of fifteen to sixty days:

1º.Whoever causes a fire of any kind that is not covered as a crime in Book Two of this Code.

2º.Whoever causes damage covered in this Code whose amount does not exceed five hundred quetzales.

3º.Whoever cuts trees on another's property causing damage not exceeding twenty quetzales.

4º.Whoever, by using waters belonging to another or diverting them from their course, causes damage whose amount does not exceed twenty quetzales.

If the acts referred to in this chapter are committed with violence and do not constitute a crime, the penalty shall be doubled.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of ten to fifty days:

1º.Whoever in a state of drunkenness causes a scandal or endangers or puts at risk his own safety or that of others.

If drunkenness is habitual, the tribunal may apply the security measure it considers pertinent.

2º.Whoever, in a public place or place open to the public or in private meeting places, of any kind, is found in a state of psychic alteration from the use of drugs or toxic or narcotic substances.

In this case, the tribunal may order the security measure it deems pertinent.

3º.Whoever incites a minor to gambling, or to drunkenness or to another kind of immoral acts or acts harmful to his health, or facilitates his entry into gambling houses, houses of prostitution or other similar places.

4º.Whoever, in establishments or places open to the public, serves or provides alcoholic or intoxicating beverages to minors, or permits their remaining in them.

5º.The owner of public spectacles, the person in charge of the administration, supervision or admission thereof, who permits the entry of minors when exhibitions prohibited for their age are being held, as well as whoever takes them to present them.

6º.Whoever publicly offends modesty with songs, allegories or other pornographic or obscene material.

7º.Whoever, in any form, offends women with undue, incorrect, disrespectful or obscene requests or propositions or follows or harasses them for any undue purpose.

Whoever commits acts of cruelty against animals or without necessity disturbs them, or makes them pull or carry an evidently excessive load, shall be sanctioned with arrest of five to twenty days.

The physician, surgeon, midwife or person who engages in any health activity who, having provided professional assistance in cases presenting characteristics of a public crime against persons, does not immediately report to the authority, shall be sanctioned with arrest of twenty to sixty days.

Whoever, having received counterfeit currency in good faith and, after becoming aware of its falsity, puts it into circulation in an amount not exceeding five quetzales, shall be sanctioned with arrest of five to thirty days.

Shall be punished with arrest for twenty to sixty days:

1º.The owners or persons in charge of establishments that sell or serve beverages or foodstuffs, without observing the regulations or provisions of the health authorities relating to the use and preservation of the utensils intended for service or that dispense adulterated products or that in any manner are harmful to health.

2º.Those who infringe health provisions relating to corpses, burials or exhumations, in cases not provided for in Book Two of this Code.

3º.Those who, by acts that do not constitute a crime, fail to show the respect due to corpses, cemeteries or burial places.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of ten to sixty days:

1º.The person in charge of the guard or custody of a mentally ill person who allows him to wander through the streets or public places without due supervision.

2º.The owner of ferocious animals that may cause harm and who leaves them loose or in a situation to cause injury.

3º.Whoever infringes the regulations or ordinances of the authority on the manufacture and custody of inflammable or corrosive materials.

4º.Whoever, in violation of orders of the authority, fails to carry out or neglects the repair or demolition of ruinous buildings or buildings in poor condition.

5º.Whoever, in a public or frequented place, discharges a firearm.

6º.Whoever obstructs sidewalks, streets or public places with objects or devices of any kind.

7º.Whoever keeps on the exterior of his house, over the street or public thoroughfare, objects that may cause harm.

8º.Whoever infringes the safety rules concerning the storage of materials, opening of wells or excavations.

9º.Whoever travels in vehicles or on horseback, in a dangerous manner, through sites or places where there is a gathering of persons.

10.Whoever refuses to receive, in payment, lawful currency.

11.The dealer or seller who has measures or weights arranged with artifice to defraud or when in any manner he infringes the regulations corresponding to the trade to which he devotes himself.

12.Whoever defrauds in the sale of substances, articles or objects, whether in their quality, in their quantity or by any means not expressly punished.

13.Whoever infringes the regulations, orders or edicts on epidemics or extermination of pests.

14.Whoever throws a dead animal, garbage or rubble in the streets or in public places or where it is prohibited to do so, or fouls fountains or watering troughs.

15.Whoever infringes legal provisions on the manufacture of fetid, unsanitary or dangerous substances or throws them into the streets.

16.Whoever gives public shows or holds meetings without due license or exceeding that which was granted

17.Whoever opens an establishment of any kind without license from the authority, when required.

18.Whoever tears off, breaks or renders useless posters, signs or notices posted by the authority for public knowledge.

Those who, in any manner, violate the regulations or provisions of the authority relating to common safety, public order or public health, shall be punished with arrest of fifteen to thirty days.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of twenty to sixty days:

1°.Whoever slightly disturbs public order or the order of a tribunal, or in public acts, spectacles, solemnities or numerous meetings.

2°.The subordinate of the civil order who fails in the respect and submission owed to their superiors, when the act does not have a greater penalty prescribed in this Code or in other laws.

3°.Whoever fails in the respect and consideration owed to the authority or slightly disobeys it.

4°.Whoever offends, in a manner that does not constitute a crime, the agents of the authority, when they exercise their functions.

5°.Whoever does not render due aid in case of crime, fire, shipwreck, accident, flood or other calamity, being able to do so without personal harm or risk.

6°.Whoever, by means of noises or uproar or by abusing sound instruments, disturbs the occupations or rest of persons or spectacles, meetings or public amusements.

7°.Whoever throws stones at or stains statues, paintings, monuments, buildings or causes any damage in streets, parks, gardens, promenades, lighting and other objects of ornament or public utility or recreation, even when they belong to private individuals, and whoever, in any manner, infringes the provisions issued on the ornament of towns.

8°.Whoever, in rounds or other nighttime amusements, disturbs public order without committing a crime.

Shall be sanctioned with arrest of ten to sixty days, whoever conceals his true name, status, domicile or other identification data from the public official or public employee who requires them by reason of his office.

Any person who does any of the following shall be sanctioned with arrest of twenty to sixty days:

a)Engages in propaganda by affixing or painting signs on effigies, walls, signs, billboards, bridges and monuments, except when it involves private property.

b)During the electoral process, in the period from twenty hours to seven hours of the following day, uses vehicles of any type with loudspeakers for purposes of electoral propaganda.

c)Sells or distributes liquors, alcoholic or fermented beverages from twelve hours of the day prior to the elections until six hours of the day following them.

d)Consumes liquors, alcoholic or fermented beverages in public places, from twelve hours of the day prior to the elections until six hours of the day following them.

e)Limits the free use of poles placed within streets, avenues or highways of the country, for electoral propaganda.