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Guatemalan Twitter User Arrested For "Inciting Panic"

Posted by timothy on from the rebroadcast-as-necessary dept.

talishte points out (with a snippet from BoingBoing) that "Amid protests in the streets and on social networks calling for Guatemala's president to step down after the assassination of a whistleblower attorney, Guatemalan police have arrested a Twitter user for 'inciting panic' through tweets. In the capital city today, police raided his home and confiscated his computer."

4 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. in order to properly understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    That poor guy was arrested because of this:

    -In Guatemala all banks are in control of a few very powerful families (republica bananera way
    -that control is of course close tied to congress campaigns and policy making.
    -since a couple bank panics in the last few years, they pushed a law that makes illegal say anything bad about a bank.
    -the guy twitted.

  2. Re:Anonymity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The smallest foresight can prevent the Orwellian police state that's coming and is becoming more prominent, but not when people think that burying their heads in the sand is any sort of prevention.

    You're implying two things:
    1) People believe that state is coming.
    2) People actually care about that state while they're still allowed to make money and consume.

    Seriously, to most people (especially those in newly rich countries like China, but even here in the US) the only "freedom" they care about is making money. That's it. Nothing else. As long as governments allow them that one, you can take away any other freedom you please.

  3. Guatemala by br00tus · · Score: 2, Informative
    An NGO like Freedom House, which gets about 80% of its money from the US government, rates Guatemala 3.5 of 7 in freedom, with 1 being the most free (United States) and 7 being the least free (Somalia).

    I find the list rather ridiculous. Cuba is rated 7. Why? I presume because it locked up a bunch of independent journalists, many of whom had contact with the US mission in Cuba. So why is Cuba 7, but Guatemala 3.5? This journalist was KILLED - in Cuba they arrest, but do not kill journalists. So why are they rated so much lower? Also, Saudi Arabia is rated 6.5, as is China. So Saudi Arabia is more free than Cuba? That is completely ridiculous.

  4. Re:Good advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The guy that made the video that started all this knew that he was going to die if he kept talking. But he did it anyway. He was going to make his declarations public, but the government didn't give him a chance. If you haven't seen it go here, it's really shocking. It begins along the lines of "If you are watching or hearing this message, it means that I'm already dead"