(AMARC/IFEX) – On 14 May 2004, government ministers and Bolivian President Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert ratified a Decree on Community-Based Radio Broadcasting. The move was hailed as a significant advance in terms of recognising community-based radio stations and brings Bolivia one step closer to implementing the recommendations put forth by the Inter-American Commission on Human […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – On 14 May 2004, government ministers and Bolivian President Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert ratified a Decree on Community-Based Radio Broadcasting. The move was hailed as a significant advance in terms of recognising community-based radio stations and brings Bolivia one step closer to implementing the recommendations put forth by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with respect to radio broadcasting.
The initiative was put forth by AMARC-Bolivia, along with other civil society groups and academics. It provides for the legal recognition of community-based radio broadcasting in Bolivia and allows for the possibility that in the near future indigenous people and rural communities will be able to operate radio and television stations.
According to José Luis Aguirre, AMARC’s representative in Bolivia, this decision “sets a precedent not only for Bolivia but for the [Andean] region.” The regulations outlined in the decree signed by President Mesa contain “no limitations on [community radio stations’] range or frequency or their ability to broadcast advertisements. This is not true of regulations in other countries,” he said.
The initiative emerged out of a two year process, in which the former Communications General Directorate (Dirección General de Comunicaciones) – subsequently renamed the Telecommunications Viceministry (Viceministerio de Telecomunicaciones) – the Telecommunications Superintendent’s Office (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SITTEL) and a national AMARC roundtable participated. It was previously approved at the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Social and Economic Affairs (Consejo de Ministros del área Económica y Social, CONAPES).
