Comments on: The assassinated lawyer, the arrested Twitterer – corruption, whistleblowing and protest in Guatemala

By: Renata Avila

Renata Avila — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:36:44 +0000

I wanted to share with you an article written by one of the most respectable journalists from Guatemala “UN Commission Unveils The Guatemalan Oligarchy’s Perversity” now that the case is solved http://www.guatemala-times.com/news/guatemala/1473-un-commission-unveils-the-guatemalan-oligarchys-perversity-.html

By: Guatemala: Assassinated lawyer, arrested Twitterer-Ethan Zuckerman « FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand

Tue, 19 May 2009 10:21:14 +0000

[...] 19-05-09 The assassinated lawyer, the arrested Twitterer – corruption, whistleblowing and protest in Gu… [...]

By: Corona Agreda

Corona Agreda — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:44:16 +0000

CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD
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……Gabriel García Márquez wrote ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ which is an analysis of passion within the Latin American culture.
……When a Latin Americans assumes a presidency of a country, he seems to feel the greased finger of god, and he, also, begins to feel as a loved personal friend with divine rights. Watching Mr. Colom before the cameras, gesturing nervously and backed by his phalange of sweaty rumpled henchmen, the only thing missing were the tattoos and the hand signs; but is all the same thing, these are cholos in neck ties. With the voice cracking under his peculiar speech impediment, he portrayed a frighten mechanical Pinocchio. One can only wonder about his estate of mind, does he think he can make up the truth as he goes along by divine presidential right, or is he truly confused in the belief that at least the very ignorant and stupid should believe in him.
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……The reality is that violence and political assassinations are natural death causes, however, for religious and philosophical conditions the public does not wish to accept it. That is not to say that it should not be avoided. But generally the weaker the government the more they make use of the technique; but, for Latin America, historically the practice became the norm with the Holly Inquisition and it stands, still without qualms. In this remarkable case, Mr. Rosenberg has played a masterful move check mating President Pinocchio and his government by anticipating the eminent end accurately, and by planting the unprecedented political time bomb of all time.
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……Mr. Rosenberg has left the world the ‘Rosenberg Maneuver’ that will be seen employed for evermore. – Corona Agreda

By: Rodrigo Rosenberg deja video anunciando su muerte « Luisxvi’s Weblog

Rodrigo Rosenberg deja video anunciando su muerte « Luisxvi’s Weblog — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:58:08 +0000

[...] Ethan’s [...]

By: Renata Avila

Renata Avila — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:59:03 +0000

Sadly we lack diverse opinions and good investigative journalist in Guatemala to put the situation in an objective perspective.

Many cases are never prosecuted and just now people is starting to realize how harmful a corrupted State is. For example there is a detention order against a high rank officer of the army pending for years, it was never reported by the press: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1442/1/

Just now mainstream media and the echo produced by the blogs started to care and created a huge campaign around the murders of important members of the elite.

200,000 people were murdered during the armed conflict, no one cared. Not a single officer was prosecuted. Many bus drivers have been murdered every day in Guatemala, no one cared (they do not have a youtube video but they received death threats before their murders.

It was reported on GVO the murder of three young musicians…http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/19/guatemala-a-violin-in-silence-after-murder-of-youth/. Many teenagers just dissappeared during President Berger administration, others were murdered in acts of social cleansing… Evictions, community leaders in prison…

The selective activism (not spontaneous at all) of some Guatemalan users of Facebook and Twitter just shows how big the differences among Guatemalans are, how polarized the society is and how visible or invisible can be a crime, a social issue and how important your last name or your bank account is.

The situation with the financial panic and the blogger in prison is a different matter (it is against the constitution and International Conventions), but again, the law itself that allowed the courts to prosecute him was just the result of the lobby of interest groups (the bankers)to protect their business.

So the offline world is talking too, but no one seems to listen to them…

By: Mentalacrobatics

Mentalacrobatics — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:38:17 +0000

Fantastic round up Ethan. My thoughts are with the brave people in Guatemala who are risking their lives because they believe that enough is enough.

These scripts you mention in passing – are they open source by any chance? Or atleast Africa Source – that is avaliable to other Africans? :-)

By: The assassinated lawyer, the arrested Twitterer - corruption, whistleblowing and protest in Guatemala |

Fri, 15 May 2009 08:30:41 +0000

[...] corruption that President Alvara Colom of Guatemala would be personally responsible and complicit. The next day Rosenberg was murdered while rising a bicycle. Guatemala erupted into protests and have been using Twitter and Ustream.tv [...]

By: socialnerdia

socialnerdia — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:57:57 +0000

Good point about the trending topics. Wouldn’t be surprised that there is some human involvement instead of just an algorithm.

Check out http://bit.ly/escandalogt for more on the Guatemalan scandal.

By: Ida

Ida — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:00:08 +0000

Awesome rundown. Thanks. It’s amazing how much this current presidency in Guatemala is marked by scandals in the banking system.