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 24^th,  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.

Despite the Guatemalan Government's decision to suspend operations at the Marlin mine, Goldcorp says normal operations continue.

Author: Dorothy Kosich

June 24, 2010

Human rights and indigenous peoples' special interest groups scored at least a temporary victory against the Marlin gold mine as the Guatemalan Government decided to suspend mining operations in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala.

 By Tracy L. Barnett

SAN MIGUEL IXTAHUACAN – Friday, June 24, was a day of celebration in this small mountain town in Guatemala’s Western Highlands. President Alvaro Colom had just sent a shock wave through the country whose reverberations were felt in faraway Toronto: the Marlin Mine, owned by Canada-based transnational Goldcorp, was ordered to suspend operations. The celebration, however, was short-lived.