2015 Rio Bravo lynching

Fourteen-year-old girl Bedelyn Esther Orozco Gómez was burned to death in Río Bravo, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala, in May 2015 by a vigilante mob after being accused by some of involvement in the killing of a moto taxi driver. A video of the lynching was later uploaded to YouTube and widely circulated on Guatemalan social media.

May 2015 Rio Bravo lynching
The grave of Bedelyn Esther Orozco Gomez, the girl lynched.
The grave of Bedelyn Esther Orozco Gomez, the girl lynched
DateMay 2015
LocationRío Bravo, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala
ChargesNo charges
VerdictNo verdict

Lynching

The lynching took place on 10 May 2015 in the Guatemalan village of Río Bravo.[1] According to local media, Orozco Gómez had been accused of being involved in the murder of Carlos Enrique González Noriega, a 68-year-old moto taxi driver. Residents claimed Orozco Gómez, along with two other men, shot González Noriega after he had refused to pay protection money.[1] The two male accomplices escaped, but Orozco was captured by a mob and dragged to the town center.[2][3]

A crowd of at least one hundred people—including women and children—watched as Orozco Gómez was repeatedly punched and kicked by vigilantes. Police attempted to intervene, but were blocked from the area by the mob, and fled the scene instead.[2][4] After being severely beaten, a member of the crowd doused Orozco Gómez in gasoline and burned her to death.[1][2][3]

Viral video

Seven days after the lynching, a video of the attack surfaced online.[1] The video was uploaded to YouTube, where it received thousands of views before being removed.[2][5] The video was also widely shared on Guatemalan social media networks, where it prompted debate on vigilante justice.[3][4]

Fake news usage

The video has also been shared on social media with captions falsely claiming that Orozco Gómez was a Hindu from Madhya Pradesh, India who was burned alive for attending a prayer service at a Christian church.[6][7] Following the Fall of Kabul in 2021, the video was once again circulated on social media, this time being purported to depict an Afghan girl.[8] In October 2023, the video was again widely shared on social media, with people falsely claiming that it depicted the killing of an Israeli girl by members of Hamas.[9]

See also

References
  1. Joel Suncar (19 May 2015). "Divulgan video de adolescente linchada". Prensa Libre (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  2. Cedar Attanasio (21 May 2015). "Guatemalan Villagers Burn Woman Who Was Suspected Assassin". Latin Times. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  3. Doug Bolton (24 May 2015). "16-year-old girl beaten and burned alive by lynch mob". Queensland Times. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  4. Annie Rose Ramos, Catherine E. Shoichet and Richard Beltran (27 May 2015). "Video of mob burning teen in Guatemala spurs outrage". CNN. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  5. Michael Koziol (25 May 2015). "Girl, 16, burnt alive by Guatemalan lynch mob". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  6. "FAKE ALERT: Video from Guatemala shared claiming Hindu girl was burnt alive in Madhya Pradesh". The Times of India. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  7. "No, this is not a video of a girl being burned alive in India for going to church". AFP Fact Check. Agence France-Presse. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  8. "No, este vídeo en el que pegan y prenden fuego a una joven en la calle no es actual ni está grabado en Afganistán: es Guatemala en 2015". Maldita.es (in Spanish). 24 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  9. Fichera, Angelo; Rabin, Roni (October 11, 2023). "False Claims Around Israel Attacks Include Recycled Videos and a Game Clip" – via NYTimes.com.
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