A number of community radio stations in Paraguay were closed down recently through court cases brought on by commercial radio stations allegedly tied to the President. Community radio advocates view these incidents and the process of licensing community radio in the country as ways of undermining freedom of expression.

Recent closing down of several community radio stations in Paraguay may be politically motivated, and could be undermining freedom of expression in the country, community radio supporters fear. Commercial radio stations, allegedly tied to Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos, have filed court cases demanding the shutdowns.
 
Chokokue FM, run by the Paraguayan Peasant Movement (Movimiento Campesino Paraguayo, MCP), was violently closed on July 10, 2007. Almost 50 armed anti-riot police officers forced the community radio station’s closure and confiscated its equipment.

Prior to this, Commercial Radio Broadcasters’ Association of Caaguazú (Asociación de Radiodifusión Comercial de Caaguazú, ARADELCA), through the local courts, appealed for the closure of the community radio station Tenode, owned by the National Peasant Organisation (Organización Nacional Campesina, ONAC), in mid-June and  that of radio station Radio Carayao in July 7.

Frutos, reports say, owns a number of these commercial radio stations in Caaguazú, where the court cases were filed. They are allegedly run by people paid by the president’s camp to be the stations’ public owners.

The process in which community radio stations are officially recognised is also being criticised by national and international organisations. At present, the allocation of frequencies to community radio stations is discretional.  As a result, 80 percent of the stations that have received official recognition are reportedly affiliated to the ruling party, or religious groups, or business interests that use the stations for profit.

In December 2006, 49 community radio stations have been granted approval to operate. However, not even a single station out of the 37 stations belonging to Paraguayan Association of Community Communication (Asociación Paraguaya de Comunicación Comunitaria, COMUNICA) was among them. A network of over 50 radio stations affiliated with the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), COMUNICA is run by peasant, worker, cultural, youth, and neighbourhood organisations intending to democratise media and the defence of freedom of expression in the country.

Source:
“Community radio stations closed in response to pressure from business interests; allocation of frequencies politically biased, says AMARC” from IFEX, posted on July 16, 2007, <http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/84859>.