28 February 2007
PROTECTION URGED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO STATIONS
Following increased threats and attacks on community radio stations in Mexico, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR) has urged the Mexican government to ensure the safety of community radio workers and protect their freedom of expression.
The stations, members of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), are all in the state of Oaxaca, scene of widespread demonstrations and strong police and army counter-measures in the past year.
After Radio Calenda staff were attacked on 24 and 25 January, AMARC-Mexico and the Mexican Commission for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights (Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, CMDPDH) asked the IAHCR to make a public statement.
AMARC says the attackers were militants of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), including a deposed president of San Antonino Castillo Velasco, in which Radio Calenda is located. Journalists Emilio Santiago and Darío Campos were beaten and one was arrested, despite having both identified themselves as journalists covering the confrontation.
The IAHCR, a body of the Organisation of American States (OAS), previously urged protection for Voladora Radio, which suffered similar attacks in August 2006 for its journalistic work. Since August 2006, Radio Nandía, also in Oaxaca state, has been closed without justification by authorities belonging to the PRI.
The IAHCR called for protective measures in September 2006, but with threats and attacks escalating, it called for intensified protection in January 2007. AMARC and the CMDPDH have urged the Mexican government to protect the workers of Radio Calenda and of Voladora Radio, and to ensure the re-opening of Radio Nandía.
Visit these websites:
- IFEX: http://ifex.org/en/content/view/full/81324
- AMARC: http://tinyurl.com/394sas
- IACHR: http://www.cidh.oas.org/
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