Translated from Prensa Libre February 14th, 2012
By MARIELOS MONZÓN
In Momostenango, a small town in the highland region of Guatemala, the Quiche Mayan community did not enter the 2012 year dreading doomsday predictions. Instead, they’re gearing up for their biggest party yet.
Noe Navarro is from an Indigenous Maya Mam community in the north-western part of Guatemala, called San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos. He has been involved in social activism over the past ten years, helping to organize the community's struggle against the infamous Marlin gold mine, which has been operating in San Miguel since 2005, and has been environmentally as well as socially damaging for his community.
Last week the community radio movement won a partial victory in the fight for democratic access to radio frequencies in Guatemala, with the congress's failure to vote approval on the bill 4404, which would have extended the current radio frequencies allocated to the mass media for another 25 years.
By rejecting the bill in it's first round of debate, the bill will be delayed until it can be re-entered in the next calendar year when the newly-elected Congress takes office.
The community radio movement publicly denounced bill 4404, as it disregards Indigenous Peoples' right to access media and is celebrating this measured victory. "The news comes as such a relief," explained movement leader Alberto Recinos. "We feel that the actions we have taken to prevent bill 4404 from passing at this stage have really had an impact. The decision to delay further debate gives us time to strategize our next steps."
In a recent editorial in Guatemala's major newspaper La Prensa Libre, UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and ally of the community radio movement, Dr. Frank La Rue, also expressed his disapproval of the legislation. His opinion piece, entitled "Behind the People's Backs" is summarized in English below. Read his full article in Spanish, here.
Noé Ismalej (Achi Maya) has worked at his community radio station in San Miguel Chicaj, Baja Verapaz, for ten years. He runs an hour-long weekly program on contemporary issues and current events called "We Chose our Future." The program reviews local and national news and includes interviews and commentary on topics such as violence against women, gender equality, the environment, youth, children, and Indigenous Peoples.
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.
On Saturday October 8, 2011, recently elected congressmen from the LIDER party (one of the leading Guatemalan political parties), visited the training facilities of Cultural Survival partner Mujb `ab` l yol (a federation of 24 community radio stations)
Wednesday, October 12 marked the Dia de La Raza, or Colombus Day in Guatemala. Each year, Mayas, Garifunas, and Xincas, march through the capital city in remembrance of their ancestors and to demand of the government that the rights of Indigenous Peoples be respected.
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.
