The situation in Guatemala is getting heavier by the moment with reports of arrests of street vendors and at least one twitter user A little background. Attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg was killed and a video released posthumously points the finger at President Alvaro Colom.

The video’s release has led to widespread protest, calling for President Colom to step down and face justice. The twittersphere in the Central American country also responded. Twitter user “Jeanfer” was arrested for suggesting in a tweet that people who had money deposited in Banrural should remove those funds, and by doing so, break the control that “corrupt people” have over the state-controlled financial institution. The murdered attorney, who was shot to death this past weekend, represented a finance expert, Khalil Musa, who was said to have refused to participate in corrupt transactions involving Banrural.

Here is the tweet:

Jean Ramses Anleu Fernández was arrested under a Guatamalan law that prohibits inciting financial panic. The same day he was arrested @jeanfer was sent before a judge, and sentenced to detention and a $6,500 fine.

The arrest over a tweet has caused understandable concern over free speech and police monitoring of dissent. Reports of the possibility of other twitter arrests and arrests of vendor selling DVD’s of Attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg’s video have been spreading rapidly, but also support for @Jeanfer has gone viral.

You can follow ongoing developments on twitter using the #escandalogt hashtag.

Via / Boing Boing