Video de Rodrigo Rosenberg from elperiodicoguatemala on Vimeo.

"If you are reading this message, it means that I, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano, was murdered by the President's Private Secretary Gustavo Alejos and his associate Gregorio Valdez, with the approval of mister Alvaro Colom and Sandra de Colom."

"I was a 47 year old Guatemalan, with 4 beautiful children, with the best brother one could ask of life, with wonderful friends, and with an overwhelming desire to live in my country, but I could not have lived with myself without rebelling, arming myself with valor and denouncing the real reasons for the deaths of Mister Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie Musa before all the Guatemalans who have principles and values, without regarding the consequences, and understanding that my life was in danger, I wanted to leave behind this testimony, should something come to happen to me, as it unfortunately did."


Then:
"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.

Jean Anleu Fernandez, 37, was handcuffed, fingerprinted and jailed for posting the 96-character message on the micro-blogging site earlier this week. It is thought to be the first such case in central America." - The Guardian

And then:
"The Guatemalan Twitterer Jean Anleu (@Jeanfer) has finally been released.

Once able to log-in to his Twitter account, Jean changed his background and profile pictures, removed his name and other personal information, and protected his account.

He also removed most of the content on his Wordpress blog.

While Twitter has put a strain on the Guatemalan government (as posted on Spanish blog “Alt1040“) and many have called this an example of the Streisand Effect, it is possible that people in countries where freedom of speech is not encouraged will have to think twice about posting observations and/or opinions on Twitter and other social networks.

We can only hope that government officials seeking to create fear by silencing innocent citizens will realize the power of online real-time communication. The masses can no longer be silenced." - Social Nerdia


In countries ruled by the forces of corruption, brave souls speaking out and standing their ground will not have their sacrifices hidden from the public if immediate and powerful technological methods of communication such as this are used. The same techniques could be used for mob rule and are used for advertising and propaganda, of course. The difference between now and twenty years ago - and what amounts to a return to the days of broadsheets - is that information can flow swiftly both to the general populace and from them. More and more the way I see the internet not as a gateway to a new paradigm but a return to an old one, on a huge scale.