Guatemala: Twitterer Released from Jail, Now Under House Arrest

Video Link (dialogue in Spanish). Jean Ramses Anleu Fernández, the soft-spoken Guatemalan I.T. worker arrested for having "tweeted" a critical opinion about the assasination/bank corruption scandal that has shaken Guatemala this week, is released from jail.

In the video above, his pals -- including a few who've checked in here on Boing Boing -- set up a laptop in the jail holding area right after he's "checked out of his hotel suite," as @jeanfer puts it, and he makes his first "freed" post to Twitter.

Note that he is twittering while still handcuffed.

He is now sentenced to house arrest.

@jeanfer's employer put up a loan for the $6500 fine ordered by a Guatemalan judge. Supporters are collecting PayPal donations to repay it. (via Oscar Mota)

Meanwhile, massive protests are planned this weekend in response to the assassination of attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg, who blamed Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom for his own anticipated murder in a posthumously released YouTube video.

In interviews today, Colom blamed powerful enemies for the scandal about claims he ordered Rosenberg's murder, as his administration cracks down on military abuses and drug gangs.

And meanwhile, we presume that José Encarnación Leiva Marroquín, the street vendor arrested for selling bootlegged DVDs of the Rosenberg YouTube video, is still in prison -- with no internet-connected pals to help rally for his release.

Update: Word on Twitter is that the video vendor has since been released, and charges dropped by the judge (via surizar).

[CANTFIGHTTHEDITE #1 20:06 on Fri, May.15]

Do we still donate via PayPal to [e-mail], is there some email address on the twitter site, or can you send paypal money to a twitter account? Little help?

[alexisbellido #2 20:50 on Fri, May.15]

Yes, you can still donate via Paypal to [e-mail] , the US$ 6500 has to be paid to Jean's employer and that's a lot of money in Guatemala.

Manolo is informing about funds raised so far in Twitter.

Thanks Boing Boing and everybody for your help.

[CANTFIGHTTHEDITE #3 23:29 on Fri, May.15]

And thank you for clearing that up for me. I hope my donation will make a difference.

[Anonymous #4 23:34 on Fri, May.15]

There is a question that remains:
How did the police get his address????
They have to answer this.

[Anonymous #5 02:25 on Sat, May.16]

@Jeanfer has protected his Twitter account:

http://socialnerdia.com/index.php/2009/05/twitterer-jeanfer-released-protects-his-account/

[VICTOR JIMENEZ #6 02:44 on Sat, May.16]

@#4 I think we should ask Twitter...

[Anonymous #7 03:05 on Sat, May.16]

At the beginnig, his hands are handcufed behind his back. When he twitts with them, still handcuffed, they're fixed in front of him. Explanation anyone?

[dculberson #8 07:37 on Sat, May.16]

Probably not too hard to find his address from his name - and his twitter account had his full name on it.

[Anonymous #9 09:07 on Sat, May.16]

It seems manolo has protected his updates now.

[Alessandro Cima #10 11:48 on Sat, May.16]

This whole episode is fascinating not only on the personal level of the people involved who have probably been very scared and yet have behaved very honorably and with great courage, but it's fascinating also because it illustrates how words really are becoming bullets. I think we're watching people destroy a corrupt government by firing a merciless barrage of words at it. I am quite certain that this Guatemalan government has a very limited amount of time left.

And this is functioning on a global level. We have the power with the word bullets of the internet to devastate government leaders anywhere they might be and potentially take them down. They can't possibly leave this gun in our hands for much longer. Someone is going to try to take the word bullets away.

[Takuan #11 12:06 on Sat, May.16]

Oh! Mama, Mama look there!
Your children are playing in that street again
Don't you know what happened down there?
A youth of fourteen got shot down there
The Kokane guns of Jamdown Town
The killing clowns, the blood money men
Are shooting those Washington bullets again

As every cell in Chile will tell
The cries of the tortured men
Remember Allende, and the days before,
Before the army came
Please remember Victor Jara,
In the Santiago Stadium,
Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again

And in the Bay of Pigs in 1961,
Havana fought the playboy in the Cuban sun,
For Castro is a colour,
Is a redder than red,
Those Washington bullets want Castro dead
For Castro is the colour...
...That will earn you a spray of lead

Sandinista!

For the very first time ever,
When they had a revolution in Nicaragua,
There was no interference from America
Human rights in America

Well the people fought the leader,
And up he flew...
With no Washington bullets what else could he do?
Sandinista!

'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel
That the Moscow bullets missed
Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist...
...Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet,
How many monks did the Chinese get?
In a war-torn swamp stop any mercenary,
'N' check the British bullets in his armoury
Que?
Sandinista!

[Takuan #12 12:10 on Sat, May.16]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNdy2z23kIw&feature=related

[Alessandro Cima #13 12:44 on Sat, May.16]

Good one Takuan. That's it.

[auto-insurance #14 10:38 on Fri, Sep.11]

Any updates here? Is he still under house arrest?

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[GamreMack #15 15:11 on Thu, Oct.22]

Let me know if there are any updates on this issue. It's serious.
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[Oscar45 #16 02:45 on Mon, Dec.21]

This one is for the books. Freedom of expression must always be respected always. Sadly, states are ignoring this basic right. They don't care if people blast them in various essay or research paper or essays.