Author
friend
For Immediate Release
For More Information contact:
RFPI at email: info@rfpi.org
James Latham, CEO, RFPI: 011 (506) 249-1821
Naomi Fowler, Program Director, RFPI: 011 (506) 249-1821
Emily Morales, Operations, RFPI: 011 (506) 249-1821
US Contact: Jean Parker, Board of Directors: (303) 355-9935
On Monday, July 21, 2003, a University for Peace representative delivered an eviction notice to Radio For Peace International (RFPI), a shortwave radio station based since 1985 by mutual agreement on the University campus in El Rodeo, Costa Rica. The Radio station's access gate was locked with chains and patrolled by armed guards employed by the University for Peace, and two weeks were given to evacuate the facility.
Radio For Peace employees made a plea to the armed guards to allow them to leave the locked premises on Monday night, although some have not left the premises since the eviction notice.
According to James Latham, Chief Executive Officer of Radio for Peace International, the extreme, unexplained, and legally questionable decision to evict RFPI endangers the livelihood of the station's employees, as well as the voice of peace on international airwaves. "This is more than an eviction, this is about the right to free speech," says Latham. "What is most shocking and sad is that this action comes from an international peace organization."
University for Peace co-founder and former Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo Odio invited RFPI in 1985 to build and manage its own office and studios on the university's Costa Rica campus, from which RFPI has been transmitting messages of peace and hope to the planet since 1987. RFPI is the only shortwave radio station dedicated to peace and social justice in the Western Hemisphere is the only one that transmits daily United Nations programming.
Latham says that Monday's eviction notice represents poor judgment on behalf of the new administration at the University for Peace, a United Nations mandated university established in 1980. "RFPI has always shown goodwill towards the University for Peace. Our shared goals in the elimination of war is what brought our two organizations together and there is much work still to be done. Instead of focusing on how to eliminate a fellow peace organization, we need to channel our energy toward eliminating war, poverty and hunger."
Concerned parties are advised to write UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in support of the radio station at: annan@un.org or sg@un.org, and/or to leave a message of concern with the Public Inquiries office at 212.963.4475.
Press events and solidarity actions are currently being planned and notifications will be sent out shortly.
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