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From: juan sweeney <jsweeney@uibero.uia.mx>
Subject: Closure of Radio: 2
Date: Thu Apr 20 20:00:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 18:02:41 mdt

Almost a week ago, we sent you news about the closure by the
Mexican Government of Radio Huaya.  We now send you an update of
the situation.

                RADIO HUAYA NEWS
                                                20TH APRIL, 1995

MOVEMENT IN THE POLITICAL SPHERE
On March 26th, we asked for an appointment with the Minister of
the Interior, Lic. Esteban Moctezuma.  To date there has been no
response whatsoever to the numerous telephone calls with respect
to this question.
On Monday, 3rd of April, we did manage to speak with the
Subsecretary for the Interior of the State Government of Veracruz,
Lic. Juan Maldonado Pereda and we explained to him the situation
of Radio Huaya as well as pointing out our reasons for believing
that the "technical failures" are a mere pretext to hide the
political reasons for the suspension of transmissions.  He agreed
with our interpretation of events and suggested the we send a
letter to the State Governor, Patricio Chirinos Calero, in order
to explain the case to him and he, the Subsecretary, promised to
raise the matter with the Governor in the next meeting.  We have
no more news on that front.

THE RADIO ANNOUNCERS
During Holy Week, we made a tour of the indigenous communities in
the Municipalities of Tlachichilco and Texcatepec.  We explained
the situation of Radio Huaya and why they could no longer tune in.
The brothers and sisters in the communities began to organize
collecting signatures in a petition directed to the Government so
that Radio Huaya could go back to air and also that the Government
give permission for it to broadcast on a band that can be heard by
any ordinary radio, i.e. in the AM band.  To date, we have
received over a thousand signatures for this petition from the
indigenous communities.
The announcers have begun to record a radio series called, "Echos
from Radio Huaya".  "Echos" is an hour length program that deals
with current events such as the tax hike and the struggle of the
Otomie people of Amaxac (one of the villages in the region) to
recover their land.  The program mixes the material with songs
from the region.
The tour made over Holy Week gave us the opportunity to take two
copies recorded on cassette of the first program to each
community.  They were very well received by the people who take
turns to listen to the cassette and then pass it on to their
neighbors.

TECHNICAL LABORS
The technicians that we contracted to examine the "irregularities"
reported by the SCT technicians have completed their inspection.
Their opinion is that the technical failures in the SCT report do
not fully correspond to reality.  This is especially so with those
failures that were said to be serious: the frequency of
transmission is correct, the transmitter's power is a little below
par since the valves are just about at the end of their working
life, and, they said, that there was no danger to the operators of
the equipment of Radio Huaya.
We contracted the services of "Advisors and Consultants in
Telecommunications, SA de CV" to carry out the necessary
maintenance work.
We also formally answered the SCT by means of a letter composed by
our contracted technicians.  They recommended a recognition of the
indicated failures and asked for a time period to carry out
repairs.
Repair work has been started on the authentic failures, like
painting the antenna mast, removing one of the antenna's stays
that was said to be "extra" and the overhaul of the transmitter.
Other, more laborious details, are still pending, such as
examining the "radials" or grounding cables.  Holy Week made much
advance in the work impossible.
We have received copies of communications sent by some of you to
the Mexican Government.  We would like to express our thanks for
your solidarity and also to let you know that our Government is
particularly sensitive to such protests.  We beg you to continue
sending them.
Copies of your faxes could be sent to us at:

Radio Huayacocotla.
Dom. Gutierrez Najera s/n
92600 Huayacocotla, Ver. Mexico.
Tel: +[52 775] 8 0067; Fax: +[52 775] 8 0178;
E-mail: framos@uibero.uia.mx

Fomento Cultural y Educativo, A.C.
Miguel Laurent 340
Col. del Valle
03100 Mexico, D.F.
Mexico
Tel: +[52 5] 559 6000      Fax  +[52 5] 575 8357

yours sincerely,
Juan Antonio Vazquez
Radio Huayacocotla.