(CENCOS/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of an 8 December 2005 CENCOS press release: Authorities seize transmission equipment and shut down two community-based radio stations in Oaxaca CENCOS, 8 December 2005 – On 7 December, the Federal Preventive Police (Policía Federal Preventiva, PFP) carried out two separate but coordinated actions against two community […]
(CENCOS/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of an 8 December 2005 CENCOS press release:
Authorities seize transmission equipment and shut down two community-based radio stations in Oaxaca
CENCOS, 8 December 2005 – On 7 December, the Federal Preventive Police (Policía Federal Preventiva, PFP) carried out two separate but coordinated actions against two community radio stations in Oaxaca. PFP officers first went to a home in the municipality of San Jacinto Amilpas, where Tupa Radio is housed. They entered by force and seized the station’s transmission equipment. The officers were carrying heavy arms and used them to threaten the members of the radio station who were in the studio at the time.
Members of the PFP also went to Santa María Tututepec, on the coast, and proceeded to seize the transmission equipment of the community’s radio station. According to those who were in the Radio Libre de Tututepec studios at the time of the incident, the PFP officers used force and threats just as they had done during the raid on Tupa Radio. Moreover, the officers pointed their guns at some of the local citizens who tried to stop them. Radio Libre de Tututepec plays an important role in the community as it forms part of a broader community development project.
CENCOS notes that the two operations were carried out without a legal order and in violation of Articles 104 and 104a of the Federal Radio and Television Law, and Articles 14 and 16 of the Mexican Constitution.
Community radio stations play a vital role in community development and as such these raids are an attack on freedom of expression and on society as a whole.
CENCOS urges the federal government to take action and ensure that the transmission equipment which was seized unlawfully is returned to its rightful owners.
The organisation reminds the Mexican government, and the federal authorities in particular, that they should guarantee freedom of expression and ensure that no restrictions are placed on this right, beyond those stipulated in the law.
