🚀 go-pugleaf

The following is the fax sent by AMARC to President Sixto Duran
Bellen protesting his government's occupation of two radio
stations in Ecuador and the arrest of some of the personnel of
Radio Latacunga.

If you missed the original posting about this, send me a message
and I'll email the background info to you.

bg
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Presidente Duran Bellen
Quito
Ecuador


Fax: 593-2-580 735


Montreal, 24 June, 1994


Senor Presidente,

     The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
is an international non-governmental organization with members in
over fifty countries. Based in Montreal, AMARC has consultative
status with UNESCO and the International Telecommunications Union.
It is funded in part by the Canadian International Development
Agency.

     We are concerned about a situation concerning two of our
Ecuadorean members, Radio Latacunga and Escuelas Radiofonicas del
Ecuador.

     At 4:30 in the morning of Wednesday June 22, 1994, soldiers
occupied and closed Radio Latacunga, the station of the Cotopaxi
provincial Diocese in Ecuador. They also arrested at least three
employees of the station, including the station manager, Sister
Alma Montoya.

     The previous evening, at 11:30, soldiers also occupied the
radio station of Escuelas Radiofonicas del Ecuador in Riobamba.
According to our information, the military has prevented the
broadcast of regular programming.

     The Declaration of Santiago, proclaimed during the Seminar on
Communication Media and Democracy organized by UNESCO in Chile last
month, states that democracy cannot exist without freedom of the
press. The occupation of the radio stations and the detention and
harrassment of their employees by your country military consitute
a very real threat to democracy.

     We strongly urge you to immediately release the detained
individuals and to have your soldiers withdraw from both radio
stations.

     We thank you in advance for informing us of the action that
you have taken with respect to this matter which constitutes a
serious threat to the basic democratic principles of freedom of
expression.


     Yours sincerely,

     <signature>

     Eugenie Aw
     President

_______________________________________________________________
AMARC - association mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
          world association of community radio broadcasters
             asociacion mundial de radios comunitarias
3575 boul. St. Laurent, Suite 704          Tel: +(514) 982-0351
    Montreal, Quebec  H2X 2T7          Fax: +(514) 849-7129
        Canada                 Email: amarc@web.apc.org
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~