On August 3, over a thousand rural people rallied in Guatemala City in support of a bill that was introduced to the Guatemalan Congress to legalize community radio. The bill, which was the product of months of work by Cultural Survival staff and radio station volunteers, has now been assigned to two committees (Communications, Transportation and Public Works Committee and Indigenous Peoples Committee) for review. Tino Recinos, our lead lobbyist, met with presidents of both committees last week. Forty-five radio volunteers are aggressively working to push the bill though.

Behind the scenes, keeping up with new radio technology is a major part of the project. With the advice of Cultural Survival Technology Committee member Nathan Felde and a group of 11 technical specialists at Alfred University in New York state, we worked out a plan to test the use of new Wi-Fi antennas in Guatemala. We selected a station in Todos Santos Cuchumatan and another in San Pedro la Laguna.