It has been over two years since the Community Radio Bill 4087 was introduced to the Guatemalan Congress in August, 2009, with a promise from President Alvaro Colom to give special priority to the bill, which would reform the current tele-communications law to include the category of community radio as a legitimate use of radio frequencies.
To mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on August 9th, representatives of 50 community radio stations from all over Guatemala came to the Centro Historico in Guatemala City to participate in a two-day conference on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to freedom of expression through radio. The goal of the conference was to bring pressure on congress to legalize community radio in Guatemala by approving the Bill 4087, the Law for Community Media.
A Mayan spiritual ceremony was held last Saturday, April 2nd, to celebrate the initiation of a new network of pilot radios stations broadcasting in rural communities of Guatemala. The day marked the 12th B’atz, a day which holds high levels of energy and represents strength in new beginnings. Nineteen Mayan priests and priestesses from the community radio station La X Musical in Cajola, Quetzaltenango participated in the ceremony. A Mayan ceremony begins and ends with prayers facing the
GUATEMALA- On March 23, 2011, The United Nations Office for Human Rights in Guatemala gave a presentation to a packed audience on the state of human rights in Guatemala throughout the year 2010. Alberto Brunori, the High Commissioner, explained the continued state of social exclusion and disadvantage that faces Indigenous peoples in Guatemala. In his speech, Brunori highlighted the necessity of equal access to media for Indigenous communities in Guatemala, and specifically to community radio frequencies.
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.
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.
On February 11, 2009 Cultural Survival co-hosted a media conference entitled “Solving the Problem of Pirate Radio Stations.” Panelists included: Dr. Frank La Rue (UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech), Dra. Rigoberta Menchu (1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate), Angelica Cubur (Volunteer, Radio Ixchel), Representative Marvín Orellana (UNE party and Ponente of Community Radio Law), Representative Walter Felix (URNG) and Representative Juan Alcazar (Partido Patriota). The event was also organized with help from COMG, the Consejo de Organizaciones Mayas de Guatemala.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
