The constitutional court of Guatemala has failed to issue a decision on the constitutionality of the current Telecommunications Law, despite the established two-month limit for a decree.
In October 2011, Cultural Survival, on behalf of the movement of community radio stations in Guatemala, submitted an action of unconstitutionality to the Constitutional Court, declaring economic and ethnic discrimination in the state’s mechanism for distribution of radio frequencies. The action argues that by auctioning off frequency licensees to the highest bidder, Indigenous communities, who historically and currently are among the most economically disadvantaged in the country, lack fair access to state-owned media.
The action was submitted in October of 2011, with additional arguments entered December 17. The period of response expired at the end of the year, and movement leaders continue to wait anxiously for a response, even if late. If the court rules in favor of the community radio stations, it would obligate the Congress of the Republic to pass the Community Media Bill 4087, which has been awaiting plenary discussions since receiving favorable decree in January 2010. If the court fails to issue a ruling, the next recourse for community radio proponents would be to file a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the judicial organ of the Organization of American States.
Click here to read an article published on the topic in Guatemala’s Prensa Libre: “Meeting Point: About Media and Democracy in Guatemala” translated from Spanish.
