(CERIGUA/IFEX) – At the beginning of December 2005, the telecommunications supervisory body (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SIT) ordered the closure of Stereo Samalá community-run radio station, located in the southwestern department, Retalhuleu. The SIT has also fined the station’s owners approximately US$10,000, much to the dismay of the public, which considers these actions a violation of […]
(CERIGUA/IFEX) – At the beginning of December 2005, the telecommunications supervisory body (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SIT) ordered the closure of Stereo Samalá community-run radio station, located in the southwestern department, Retalhuleu. The SIT has also fined the station’s owners approximately US$10,000, much to the dismay of the public, which considers these actions a violation of its right to freedom of expression and information.
Station director Javier Solís indicated to CERIGUA that the measure is an attempt to eliminate this particular radio station, since although Stereo Samalá is not formally registered, hundreds of other stations also operate in the same manner and were not closed.
Solís said that the radio station had complied with its obligations as an authentic community-based radio station at the service of both the public and bodies promoting development in the department, adding that one of Stereo Samalá’s actions benefiting the general population was to lead the only chain of community radio stations that provided full coverage of the damages in the region’s communities caused by Hurricane Stan.
Stereo Samalá has always fought to defend and promote human rights, and cooperated with the fire-department, the Retalhuleu departmental government, municipal governments, the National Civilian Police (Policía Nacional Civil), health authorities and other bodies, but above all, with the populace of Retalhuleu department, said Solís.
During CERIGUA’s public consultation on the radio station’s closure, the public made its opposition to the measure clear, saying that the station had served Retalhuleu’s inhabitants well and that the authorities should reverse their decision.
