Next weekend, Radio Progreso, a Jesuit radio broadcasting from the capital city of Honduras, will celebrate its 61st anniversary. But there will not be any celebrations for now, because their time on air has been interrupted. Moreno, a Jesuit priest and director of the radio explained on Monday morning that he initially thought that the tower holding the antenna had been thrown down by the wind, but the inspection by technicians on Sunday confirmed that the cables holding the tower had been unscrewed, which caused the antenna to fall and break in three parts.

“These were external hands, criminal hands which caused our tower to fall down. The wind could not have knocked down the tower”, he said, and blamed the government of Juan Orlando Hernández, who wants to continue in office after the controversial elections of November 26.

Repairing the antenna will be extremely expensive, but the collective is working to be on air as soon as possible. “We don´t want to remain impassive”, said Moreno, making reference to the social and political reality experienced in Honduras: “We are in a critical situation in the country and Radio Progreso has steadily joined the voices that are questioning the electoral fraud, denouncing as well all of the attacks, human rights violations by the current government which is seeking reelection”.

Real World Radio and Friends of the Earth International express their solidarity with Radio Progreso. Moreno requested that the situation experienced in Honduras is heard by the different European embassies established in the country, as well as different UN and OAS bodies.

In defense of democracy

Moreno announced that they will denounce this sabotage “because we continue believing in justice and in peaceful solutions. We will not accept any dictatorship, we will not accept authoritarianism, especially when these want to be imposed through the violation of rights and threats to the lives of citizens, such as in the case of the group led by Juan Orlando Hernández that represents a threat for the State of Law, for democracy, for human rights and for life in Honduras”, he stated.

He added that Radio Progreso “has been one of the few communication media” which has attempted to break with the media siege. “What other communications media at national level are broadcasting about the human rights violation, the violations to the Constitution, the electoral fraud? What other media besides Radio Progreso?” he wondered and explained that this is why they are blaming the current government for entering a nearly inaccessible area, such as Cantagallo hill, where the antenna is located.

According to information held by the radio, TV company Une TV is also denouncing sabotage attempts against their transmission equipment. Just like Radio Progreso, Une TV “is broadcasting from the streets about the situation in our country”, they explained this morning.