Securing the Right to Community Radio for Indigenous People in Guatemala

Nicole Friederichs, Director - Suffolk Law School Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Clinic

Many of us in the United States take for granted the fact that we can easily access any kind of media whenever we want to. However, this is not always the case for communities in other parts of the world. In Guatemala, the government has prohibited non-profit and community use of radio frequencies, only allowing for commercial radio stations. Because of this law, Indigenous communities throughout Guatemala are banned from operating radio stations—preventing them from using the radio to share information in their language and preserve their history and culture.

In 2020, the Impact Fund made a grant to the Suffolk Law School Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Clinic to support the case Pueblos Indigenas Kaqhikuel Maya de Sumpango y Otros v. Guatemala, which was brought on behalf of Indigenous communities seeking to operate community radio stations in Guatemala.

We recently sat down with Nicole Friederichs, director of the Clinic, to learn more about this case and its impact. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.

Indigenous community witness, Rosendo Poblo, Todos Santos

What issues does this case seek to address?

Guatemala is almost 50% Indigenous, and many of these communities are more rural. Radio is an important way for Indigenous communities to share information and communicate in their own language to transmit histories and culture. During the pandemic, radio allowed communities to share information to keep people safe. Radio can also be a way to not only protect Indigenous languages, but to make sure that they’re around for generations to come.

Those are just a few examples of why radio is so important for Indigenous communities in Guatemala, but they are often unable to access it and are criminalized for doing so. The government would sometimes conduct raids at radio stations, confiscating equipment and arresting people.

Could you tell us more about the affected communities in this case?

We’ve always seen this case as one that’s trying to protect the rights of all Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala, but there are four Indigenous communities that are named in this case. They’re all in different parts of Guatemala.

One community is Sumpango, which is near Guatemala City. Another community is Cajolá, which is further west. And then the communities of Todos Santos is a mountainous region northwest of the capital city further north, and finally the community of San Miguel Chicaj is in the north central part of the country.  Each of them speak different Indigenous languages and have different experiences, but they have all been trying to operate Indigenous community radio stations. Two of them were raided, and at one point, one person was arrested. They exemplify the experience that Indigenous communities have with operating Indigenous community radio stations nationwide.

What was the relief sought in the case? How could the case help remedy the harm inflicted on these communities?

As an international case, this case is a bit different from cases within the U.S. legal system. There’s a human rights system within the Organization of American States, and typically the first place one would go as an advocate is the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. And for some, you may then be eligible to then go on to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. When we first went to the Commission, we had to articulate the rights that were being violated. The Commission isn’t a court—the goal was to obtain a report concluding that Guatemala had violated the human rights of freedom of expression, the right to culture, and the right to equality before the law. We hoped that the Commission’s report would pressure Guatemala to make some changes, but the report is not a judgment.

Together with the plaintiffs outside the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights

In 2020, the Commission agreed that these violations were happening and it decided to bring the case  to the Inter-American Court. We didn’t expect this case to go to court, so what we got was actually much more than what we were looking for. This is when the case looked more like the litigation that we are familiar with in the U.S. We sought a specific remedies—primarily, to make sure that Guatemala was going to recognize Indigenous community radio as a form of use of the radio frequency spectrum. We also asked the Court to order that the raids stop and some kind of financial reparations be made.

What was the outcome of the case?

Two years ago, following a hearing and briefing, the court issued a 100-page decision—and it agreed with us. The court found in favor of the four communities, and issued specific reparations for Guatemala to implement within a certain timeframe.

Indigenous community witness Maria Pedro de Pedro, Santa Eulalia

The big win is reforming the law. The court told Guatemala that it must change its laws to ensure that Indigenous communities can legally operate community radio stations. This is going to take a few years, and the court gave Guatemala a reasonable period of time to do that. While the law reform is being done, Guatemala is required to legally recognize the harmed communities and their radio stations.

The court also told Guatemala that it must stop raiding Indigenous communities, and overturn any criminal convictions related to the operation of community radio stations. In addition, Guatemala was required to publish the decision and make it easily accessible—it had to publish it both in Spanish and Indigenous languages, in a major newspaper, in a government newspaper, and on different websites. They’ve done some of that, but are still waiting to publish it everywhere. Finally, the court issued financial reparations for the victim communities, to compensate for both the material loss and the experience of having to live through this.

Most of this was supposed to be done within the first year, but none of it was. There’s still a ways to go. 

What happens next? What are your hopes for the future of this case and the systemic impact it may have?

My hope is that Guatemala will fulfill all of its requirements under the court’s judgment. I also hope that the law reform will be done in consultation with Indigenous communities. It’s standard practice that if any country is trying to adopt or change a law that might impact Native or Indigenous people, it has to consult with them. That’s something we’re really pushing for—to ensure that Indigenous voices are being heard when these laws are changed. We’re working closely with our partners in Guatemala, and two fabulous lawyers, both of whom are Mayan Indigenous.

The impact of the case is definitely being felt regionally—many advocates for the right to freedom of expression in South and Central America are looking to this case as a way to make changes in their countries. In terms of its impact elsewhere, we believe this to be the only case globally that examines the right to freedom of expression for Indigenous peoples. This is the first time an international human rights body has looked into the right to media in Indigenous communities. We don’t know of any other international court decision that addresses this issue. So, we’re hoping that because it is the first, its impact will be felt beyond this region and help inform what the right to media means for indigenous peoples worldwide.