Guatemalan Man Arrested After Sending Twitter Message

The Guardian:

Police in Guatemala have arrested a Twitter user and confiscated his computer for "inciting financial panic" after he urged people to remove funds from a state-owned bank.

Read the whole story: The Guardian

Comments

[bobo5]

11:10 PM on 05/16/2009

What twats.

[shespeaks]

11:24 AM on 05/16/2009

In Dick Cheney world, he would disappear to be tortured and kept without charges or counsel for years, while they waterboarded him to get more info on his plans for twittering his way to the destruction of the national bank. Right or wrong (what he posted), this scenario can and likely did occur under the Bush administration, but in the dark of night and with no legal process or examination required. Because they could, and did decide arbitrarily what was a terrorist or potential terrorist act. Guatemala ain't got nuthin' on Bushco.

Scary, isn't it.

[Chubbster]

07:40 PM on 05/16/2009

Chronic Cheney anxiety for "shespeaks." No, he's not coming back, although we might hope so, in an orange jumpsuit.

[merger]

06:11 PM on 05/17/2009

I think your fears are bit far fetched. If you believed that, really, then everyone on Huff Post would have been real danger the last 8 years.

[Loculi]

10:19 AM on 05/16/2009

Call me crazy, but I totally do not get the attitude of some of us on the left who seem to dismiss all this as bullshit. I've seen the video of Rodrigo Rosenberg's last declaration before he was gunned down, did he allow himself to be murdered too, just to frame the president of Guatemala? Sure doesn't seem likely! I guess I'm just surprised to see this reaction, as it seems to be a clear case of political murder and corruption. It seems there really are some people so blinded by their loyalty to progressive politics, that they refuse to believe a "leftist" president in Latin America could be corrupt. Now in a related story a guy is arrested for suggesting the same bank in Rosenberg's last declaration is corrupt over twitter, and they say he's a right wing operative? Please step away from the tinfoil hats.

[RachelMc]

01:41 AM on 05/16/2009

dang. too bad things like that are covered under the 1st amendment here.

[erichnorse]

08:23 PM on 05/16/2009

Its not a freedom of speech issue.

He didnt just express an opinion, he called for an action that could potentially bankrupt a financial institution, that has been a crime in Guatemala for a couple of years now since in the past there have been attempts to topple banks with rumors, emails and such.

His call to action was a reaction to the current mess, but his arrest has nothing to do with it. The guy just didnt foresaw the consequences of his actions.

[roald]

05:03 PM on 05/15/2009

Sounds like a certain Republican Representative, who, BTW, was not arrested.

[roshni]

10:57 PM on 05/15/2009

My thoughts exactly!

[yappnmutt]

11:27 PM on 05/15/2009

the patriot act doesn't apply to our dear leaders.

[ssfahrer]

12:34 AM on 05/16/2009

What does the Patriot Act have to do with it?

[davidwayneosedach]

04:54 PM on 05/15/2009

And he thought it was only a joke?