The plotlines surrounding Central American politics are playing out like a Hollywood blockbuster. It’s so hard to know where to start. There’s military coups, there’s post mortem accusations, there’s…cell phones?
Whackamala
The first Central American ‘hiccup’ happened in Guatemala earlier this year when a high profile lawyer was murdered while riding his motorcycle. Exciting, huh? And you thought all these countries had were violent insects and good fruit.
It gets better. Said lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg, released a video the day after his death blaming none other than the Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom Caballeros and his personal secretary, Gustavo Alejos. Rosenberg believed that if he was assassinated it was due to his involvement in the case of Khalil Musa and Marjorie Musa.
Khalil Musa was a businessman that was brought on as part of the board of Guatemala’s rural development Bank. It is thought that Khalil and his daughter Marjorie were assassinated when Musa refused to take part in illicit transactions at the bank.
Protesters flooded the streets to call for the resignation of the president, even though there was no evidence asides from the tape (and who can believe a martyred lawyer). The FBI and UN offered to help with the investigation.
Guatemala has been facing civil crisis in its short, 13 years of democratic history and these claims do not help the situation at all. There has been constant violence within the country from both the left and right of the political spectrum (Colom is the first leftist president in the country’s history).
Teaser: The Hydra Headed Chupacabra: As the pressure on Colom began to subside more fuel was added to the fire when Jean Anleu reacting to supposed government corruption (including the Rosenberg murder) tweeted for depositors to remove their money form the Guatemalan rural development bank. He could face up to five years in prison for illegally undermining trust in the Guatemalan Banking System.
Aside from the insane precedents created here (not trusting your government is illegal? not trusting the institution publicly linked to a murder scheme including the president) the interesting thing with the Guatemalan case is what a big role technology has played in all of it.
The initial Rosenberg video gained worldwide view through YouTube, many of the initial protests were organized through Facebook, and well…tweeting of course.
