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Radio Doble Via 89.1 FM Xela Guatemala
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Radio Doble Via: Board Op - 502-692-2848
Umberto Rodas: Cel - 502-806-9592 Isabeto@excite.com
dcaudio@indymedia.org
Nov. 4, 2003
QUEZALTENANGO, GUATEMALA - Considered to be one the first convergences of the Indymedia Movement with independent media in Guatemala, low power FM radio from Quezaltenango will make its debut Internet radio stream to cover this year's national elections on November 9, 2003 at http://liveradio.indymedia.org.
The station will take calls from election observers and community members all over the country on Sunday, reporting what they see at voting locations and wherever there might be violence. This historical event will be recorded for future legal reference, if needed.
At one point forced to hide in a volcano in between shortwave transmissions during the horrific civil war in the 1980s, the former La Voz Popular transformed after the 1996 Peace Accords into a community radio station Radio Mujb'ab'lYol 106.5 FM in Concepción Chiquirichapa Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The current 22 watt station will launch into cyberspace to feed other participating FM stations in Guatemala, as well as whoever else in the world would like to re-broadcast the hourly reports providing updates on feared election violence in voting municipalities.
People are asked to publish the audio link on as many websites as possible.
http://liveradio.indymedia.org:8003/concepcion.ogg.m3u
International news agencies have recently reported the efforts of former military dictator, Efrain Rios Montt's attempt to run for President, including the Guatemala City riots by people, who were trucked in from the countryside. The stated riots are thought to have forced the Supreme Court to overrule the Constitution that barred people who had come to power through coups to become President. Fear of further human rights abuses fills the local press and population, especially after four journalists from La Prensa Libre were held hostage late last month for 51 hours by former ex-PAC (paramilitary civil defense) members seeking government payment for their work during the civil war.
Rios Montt, who formed the infamous civil defense patrols responsible for thousands of deaths between 1982-1985, is wanted by a Belgian criminal court for his part in massacres and crimes against humanity during the conflict. Despite this, the Republican Front of Guatemala (FRG) party took a majority of the Congress in 1999 and has since changed numerous laws to consolidate power. Recent political campaigning includes handing out fertilizer, tools and food to poor residents throughout the nation in order to register them with the FRG and in effect, buy their votes, using public funds.
Operated by former guerillas from the civil war and other community members, Radio Mujb'ab'lYol (Moo-hh-Bah-pue-OLE) began in October 2000 to serve the community of 20,000 residents in Concepción Chiqurichapa, a small town north of Xela with a 90% population of indigenous Mam and Quiche. The local government is the only one in the department of Quezaltenango with URNG (United Revolutionary National Guatemala) leadership, the political party of the former guerrillas who fought the military governments of the past. Radio Mujb'ab'lYol is also the name of the radio association that includes 300 other low power FM stations around Guatemala, which is also a member of AMARC.
Programming is non-commercial and includes community members who can spare the time from their hard working schedules to go on the air. Shows range from music promoting the local marimba orchestras and bachata to Alcoholics Anonymous programming aimed at young men who often drink heavily after the harvest season ends and there is no more work. The studios of Radio Mujb’ab’lYol 106.5 FM are in fact right in the main municipal building in a small room below the mayor's office, the town Treasurer, Secretary and across the hall from the town police office. Gathering 500 signatures for the effort, Felix Cabrera Hernandez, the Treasurer of Radio Mujb'ab'lYol says that only a few people dissented, disparaging the efforts because of their guerrilla past. Now, three years later, the town has voted through local neighborhood representatives to allocate 60,000 quetzals ($7,500) to buy a new 300-watt transmitter and build a tower.
“After starting out with not many listeners, now we have the support from 90% of the community, because we broadcast in our own language and we know the needs of our community,” Cabrera said.
Another addition to the network arrived 3 months ago when Radio Doble Via 89.1 FM came on the air in Xela using a 100-watt radio exciter from a station in El Salvador. Eleven local residents run the station, which mixes music (hip-hop, salsa, bachata, marimba, and rock) with public affairs programs and announcement produced on a 24-channel mixer and computer. Though the power sometimes goes out, and the threat of "dead air" looms every so often during bathroom breaks, the station is slowing getting noticed on a radio dial that is full of other small pirate stations and larger commercial stations from Guatemala City. Broadcasting from 8am to 10pm most days, Radio Doble Via (2 Ways) is now running several spots promoting the election process and human rights, as well as others that are overtly against Rios Montt's campaign sponsored by several women's organizations: "No Mas Rios de Sangre - No More Rivers of Blood."
“Our goal is to support the development of our community. Several women’s groups decided to create public service announcements and educational messages, many of which are against Rios Montt’s campaign,” says Umberto Rodas, Station Manager of 89.1 FM Doble Via.
Community reporter David Russo arrived in Guatemala on an "activist vacation" from Washington, D.C. to help the stations get their signals live on the Internet. With the assistance of other media activists in the Indymedia network around the world in Brazil, England, California and Argentina, David is connecting Radio Mujb’ab’lYol to treasure chest of Internet audio content that his hosts never imagined could be accessible. Having co-founded the DC Indymedia Center, setup numerous live event news streams and edited radio pieces for Pacifica Radio, Russo says the knowledge transfer has been relatively easy.
"I know my Spanish is mediocre, but when kids explain back to me how the multi-track editing works, I know I'm not doing too bad," he said. “I’m so exited about bringing this technical capacity to this community, and I think the Indymedia network can take full credit for this success. Though there is no Indymedia center here yet, per se, I think that the Guatemalan youth and low power radio heads are starving for more global media connections.”
With the help of an Internet cafe in Xela, the streaming computer will have an FM radio feeding the signal off the air into the sound card that encodes it using OGG vorbis format to a server in England. There should be enough bandwidth for several hundred Internet listeners, Russo says.
"Like everything I've learned from Indymedia, I'm standing on the shoulders of others who've made this technically possible... sometimes it looks like undocumented black magic, but I know somewhere the techies read what to do. Now we just need to find the donors to pay for it all."
Acting on his conscience and good will, David secured a laptop to donate to Radio Mujb’ab’lYol so their streaming mobile efforts can continue when he leaves, planting the seeds for future grassroots media democracy. He also went out and bought the phone recording equipment to record phone calls, which they lacked.
"I figure that it's a drop in the bucket for many donor organizations, $700. I hope that a future proposal can help re-imburse me for it. This election is too important to have the world miss what is happening here only to discover after the fact that the same war criminal is back in power," Russo says. "It was a last minute opportunity to help, so I took the chance. I feel that I have so many technical skills to offer, I couldn't come here and not share them... I really couldn't just enjoy some privileged vacation and do nothing while this crazy election is going on. It's not right."
There remains a lot of training on the computer, Russo says, but his 13 year old host, Aldo Ivan Rodas, is turning out to be the first online DJ for Radio Doble Via. Together with his brother Gustavo Alexis, he has been ripping CDs of indigenous language music and other material not found far outside of Guatemala.
"We hope that this music and culture will be shared around the world in the same way Brasil, for example, has exported its music and thus preserved its culture. This is a priority for many local communities here, after getting their basic needs met," Russo said.
The Radio Mujb’ab’lYol association doesn’t have a web page yet, so until then whatever is published on Indymedia is all there is. Rodas say they could use as many volunteers from other countries as possible to help with this.
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en Español mas tarde... por favor traducir si quieres...
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