18 January 2011 | News | Free Honduras | Human rights | Social activists at risk
Under threat
Indigenous radio station closes down after fire threat
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On Friday, and after the constant threat suffered, the members of the garifuna community radio station Faluma Bimetu (Coco Dulce) from the Honduran city Triunfo de la Cruz, were forced to temporarily shut down the radio because they were running the risk of it to be set on fire.
In a press release issued by the National Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and also by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters of Latin America and The Caribbean (AMARC - ALC) they demand the Honduran government to cease the hostilities against the community radios in that country and to take the necessary actions so that the radio Faluma Bimetu can resume its broadcasting.
In January of 2010 the garifuna radio station had been set on fire by unknown people, in an incident that remains to be clarified by the authorities. At the time, the material loss caused by the fire led to the radio to be off the air for a month, after which it could broadcast again thanks to the support it received for its reconstruction.
“The community radios of Honduras, since the coup d’état (of June 18, 2009)
have suffered systematic persecution, since they break the information barrier imposed to the Honduran people by the minority that has been ruling this country and prevents any transformation that undermines their interests and encourages the people to demand their rights”, says OFRANEH’s press release.
The release also says: “In the case of Triunfo de la Cruz, the interests of the tourist business and the Municipality of Tela have caused the divide to continue, as well as the illegal sale of community lands, favoring the interests of the power elite, which has promoted tourist projects in Bahía de Tela”.
The radio station Faluma Bimetu has been an active voice in exposing this situation, where the residents could be displaced in the name of tourist mega projects. They defend the rights of the territory of the Garifuna communities.
This has led the station to be one of the paramilitary targets of the “ninjas”, who are at the service of the big tourist interests.
The assaults against Faluma Bimetu are not an isolated incident, but part of a harassment policy against community radios for failing to follow the line of thought of the mainstream media in support of the government, which the social organizations consider to be illegitimate.
“There is a clear monopoly of the media in the country, which is owned by very few people mostly linked with the 2009 coup d’état. The community radios are the result of a great effort. They aim to break with the servility that the mass media has with the power elite”, says OFRANEH’s press release.
