(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC has expressed its strong objections to the raid and closing of one of its members, radio station Ixchel, located in Sumpango, a municipality in the Sacatepequez department, while dialogues aimed at establishing the legal framework to guarantee the continuity of such community radio stations are taking place. The raid took place on […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC has expressed its strong objections to the raid and closing of one of its members, radio station Ixchel, located in Sumpango, a municipality in the Sacatepequez department, while dialogues aimed at establishing the legal framework to guarantee the continuity of such community radio stations are taking place.
The raid took place on 7 July 2006, at 6:10 a.m. (local time), ironically on the orders of Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists Mario Castañeda. According to Anselmo Xunic and Pedro Yol, members of the neighbourhood association operating the station, three individuals from the Ministry of the Attorney General (Ministerio Público, MP) and about 20 police officers violently forced their way into the facility, confiscating the transmitter and the rest of the equipment, as well as the station’s documentation. Unlike in other recent cases, this time no one was arrested, since the operator present at that moment was an underage youth.
A legal brief prepared on behalf of the Chamber of Radio Broadcasting, led by a representative of Angel González, a Mexican citizen who owns the company exercising a monopoly on television and radio stations in the country, stated that crimes were being committed. The brief served as a pretext for Castañeda to charge the operators of the radio station, who could receive prison sentences if they are found guilty.
The station is a member of the Mujbalbyo Association, one of the coordinating bodies belonging to AMARC, and as such participates in the “Dialogue Roundtable” established by the government itself in fulfillment of March 2005 commitments to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to modify the radio broadcasting laws and legally recognise community radio stations.
Radio Ixchel has strong community support and does not interfere with the signal from any commercial station. The day prior to the assault, it had received a visit from a European Union delegation making a documentary about its contribution to development and cultural diversity.
AMARC has asked the government to stop persecuting community radio stations and to take concrete measures to assure a minimum degree of trust and calm so that the Dialogue Roundtable meetings can proceed.
It is unacceptable that while solutions are being sought and AMARC is recognised as a valid interlocutor by the government itself at the Dialogue Roundtable, radio stations belonging to AMARC continue to be charged by the Telecommunications Superintendent’s Office (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SIT), repressed by the MP and demonized by the Chamber of Radio Broadcasting in lavish radio and television campaigns.
