On August 18-19, 2013, our team at Cultural Survival started our second round of 12 exchanges between community radio stations in Guatemala. Our exchange program provides the opportunity for horizontal learning between community radio stations. They are able to share stories, experiences, strengths and weaknesses in order to help each other improve the technical, thematic and relational aspects of their radio stations.
August 9 was the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. In Guatemala, Indigenous groups and organizations around the country commemorated this event by shutting down all the major highways in the country with organized demonstrations. The demonstrations took place to demand that the rights of Indigenous communities be respected. Indigenous organizations around the country coordinated efforts so that the demands listed at each protest were the same.
On August 11, 2013, Radio Ixchel, one of the most successful community radio stations in our Guatemalan community radio network, is celebrating 10 years on the air. Radio Ixchel is located in Sumpango, Sacatepéquez, a quaint municipality located about 45 minutes from the nation’s capital, Guatemala City. The station is located at one of the highest points in this hilly village, allowing it to broadcast to the entire 45,000 inhabitants of Sumpango.
In order to resolve the conflict generated by the installation of the Spanish company Hidro Santa Cruz’s Cambalam I Hydroelectric Project in Santa Cruz Barillas, Guatemala, the organized civil society, groups related to the company, and government representatives intend to hold dialogues mediated by Catholic Bishop Álvaro Ramazzinni, a long-time supporter of communities’ rights in conflicts with foreign companies and the government.
Click here for the English version of this article.
En este momento, tenemos desarrollos nuevos y emocionantes en nuestro Programa de la Radio Comunitaria. Hemos recibido tres subvenciones para hacer tres nuevos proyectos, las cuales van a proporcionar nuevas programaciones a las radios en nuestra red, fortalecer las conexiones entre las radios, mejorar sus programas, y ampliar nuestra red para incluir emisoras en Belice y en El Salvador.
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.
