Various rural and Indigenous groups blocked at least four major highways in Guatemala on February 6, demanding that the Congress approve a cohort of bills put forth by Indigenous groups, including Bill 4087, the community radio bill.
Various rural and Indigenous groups blocked at least four major highways in Guatemala on February 6, demanding that the Congress approve a cohort of bills put forth by Indigenous groups, including Bill 4087, the community radio bill.
Guatemala's Coordinadora Nacional Indigena y Campesina reports that on January 10, 2011 police in the department of Alta Verapaz have attacked the Q’eqchi’ Mayan village of Se’ Job’ Che’, destroying their crops and animals and firing on the people. The police in this area, which borders Mexico, have been given broad powers to fight Mexican drug dealers who have crossed the border into Guatemala, but the village in question has no connection to the drug trade. A state of siege has been declared in the area.
Radio Ixchel is a community radio station located in Sumpango Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Anselmo Xunic founded the station when he saw a need for a means of communication that represented their own community. Anselmo explains, "there were no radio stations where we could hear voices representing our own community, our own Kachikel language, much less any female voices." The name "Ixchel" comes from the Sumpango's patron saint, the Mayan goddess of the harvest. The station broadcasts from 6am to 10pm, 7 days a week.
Quetzaltenango, GUATEMALA: In honor of World AIDS day on Dec 1st, Cultural Survival's partner radio association Mujb`ab`l yol held a four-day workshop on HIV/AIDS awareness. Over 60 Indigenous radio workers participated in the event, covering topics such as symptoms, transmission, prevention, and sensitivity, as well as radio locution, script writing, and audio recording. A local theater group "Luces Escondidas" performed a skit, and three local organizations chipped in to pay a cost of the food and lodging.
The revised telecommunications law that would legalize community radio in Guatemala is closer than ever to being passed. On August 24th, the county’s president, Alvaro Colom, summoned radio operators and Cultural Survival to a meeting at the presidential palace, where Roberto Alejos (president of the Congress), and members of the Supreme Court were to discuss how to grant long-promised broadcast licenses to community radio stations. Unfortunately, the president failed to show at the meeting, and only the head of the judicial branched appeared.
Members of Cultural Survival staff and the Community Radio Movement held discussions Monday at the Congress of the Republic in Guatemala City.
The Cultural Survival staff and volunteers from community radio stations continue to meet with leaders of the Guatemalan Congress about the Community Radio Law (Bill number 4087). Cultural Survival is working with 205 community radio stations in Guatemala to legalize community radio broadcasting. The hurdle continues to be getting the bill on the agenda for a vote by the full Congress.
Today, representatives of Cultural Survival, the Guatemalan Community Radio Movement, and several national Indigenous organizations are scheduled to meet with Alvaro Colom (president of Guatemala), Roberto Alejos (president of the Congress), and members of the Supreme Court to discuss how to grant long-promised broadcast licenses to community radio stations. The meeting is the strongest opportunity yet for government support of community radio and is the result of months of intense lobbying by Cultural Survival and our community radio partners.
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