El Estor Quotes

Summary:
In El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala every five out of ten people live in poverty. This
number is even higher in rural areas where 77 percent of the population lacks even
basic needs. The United Nations primary Millennium Development Goal is to
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. In El Estor, Indigenous Community Radios
are a means of reconstructing the social fabric and improving the lives of its people.

Elena Metii, Qeqchi Native

0:09 to 0:28 [Elena speaks]
I would like to have a community radio where the community expresses what they
feel, where the children can also participate, where they can also sing in their native
language.
[0:30 translator speaks]

Toms Xol, Spiritual Guide

1:33 to 1:41; 1:53 to 1:57 [Toms speaks]
They have never had space, on the radio they dont talk about the rights of the
community, only music and the news; also they dont talk about this at all, I asked if
he, as a person of authority, could go to the radio and that they give him a space to
talk about community projects but they said no.
[1:57 translator speaks]

*Domingo Caal, Community Mayor

2:41 (talking about what he hopes that community radio will be like)
That there arent commercials, that they dont give service, that they dont give
service to politicians, that it isnt just religious, that it is directly universal service, so
that in this way they can become established and that the people come to have
self-expression, that they feel, confident, and also that the people here who arent
poor see that there is a connection between respect and kindness which allows one
to feel confident in their self-expression.

*Mara Elena Pa Caal (3:21)

[Would you like to participate in an Indigenous radio with children, with children on
the radio?]

Yes.
[How do you imagine it?] [translator speaks]
3:42 to 3:45 [Mara speaks]
I would sing songs with my peers, with the other children.
[3:45 translator speaks]

Angelina Ba Caal, Qeqchi Native (3:52)

4:09 to 4:26 [Angelina speaks]
I consider it very important to have a radio since we women are almost nonexistent
with our participation in the radio. We have been limited, and this is a right that
protects all women.
4:37 [translator]

Francisca Pacay, Qeqchi Native (4:46)

5:02 to 5:18 [Francisca speaks about why a community radio is important]
All of a sudden there is a need with emergencies, accidents, or some problem that
the Qeqchi people have.
5:19 [translator]

[5:35 How would you feel about having a radio in your native language?]
[translator]
5:45 to 5:53 [Francisca speaks]
In this way we will understand better and we will express ourselves and
comprehend what we express.

*Professor Emilio Mucu Xi, IGER (6:01)

We have to turn to a commercial radio, but economic resources limit this. If the
community radio was here in El Estor it would benefit the students who receive
radio classes farther from the municipality.
[Are your students Indigenous?]
Seventy percent of the population is Indigenous. It is the Maya who speak Qeqchi.

Professor Gerardo Caal (6:33)

[How will a community radio bring benefits to the community?]
Perhaps it strengthens the values and the culture of Indigenous people.
[Would you like it if there was a community radio within El Estor?]
Very important because today we dont have a radio that teaches our language,
because we want to strengthen the language and bilingual culture.

[7:23]
In this case perhaps I would say that women would have participation as well as
men, strengthen, also strengthening gender equality and bilingual reporting.

*Julio Guevara, District Nurse (7:38)

El Estor is the largest municipality in Izabal with a territorial expanse more than
2,900 kilometers squared. More than 105 communities, 40 percent of the population
is concentrated in the south. Accessibility is very difficult; you have to support
yourself through water or through land. Ninety percent of the population descended
from the Quechis. It is a conflicted area, historically it is the municipality with the
highest rate of mortality, maternal and infant, and thanks to the efforts of the
health ministry program ICE information, communication and education but it
doesnt give us, it isnt big enough, a community radio would be enough. For
example, in terms of maternal mortality which we are questioning very much right
now, the ministry has hired personnel for the different communities, still it is
difficult, we have one midwife, giving announcements is very difficult, for the
trainings.
[9:06] A community radio, I think, would help us a lot. For example, the midwives,
and it isnt the midwives, it is the family, community machista, that decides if the
woman leaves the community or not. So, I think that the radio will help us, there is a
process of information, communication and education.

Marcela Caal, Midwife (9:34)

9:43
In my opinion, this is very important because for any emergency, it has hit me hard
here, for example, still there are times they call policemen, the ambulances that
come cost money and need gasoline to come or go to the hospital, but sometimes
we dont have to go. Sometimes I have to take the women in a taxi, all of this, but
sometimes on the radio, any announcement that they give there someone will go to
see about their problem, call a car or something, we help, for me it has helped to
deal with emergencies. But only one radio is successful, the radio is evangelical,

also sometimes they dont accept us because of our religion. But it is very important
for us Indigenous, and it also helps us a lot in raising awareness amongst the
women because our language is Qeqchiva, it doesnt cost me you see, I dont know
if I am explaining myself because my language is Qeqchiva. It costs me a lot to
return to Spanish.

*Luis Barrante, Defenders of Nature (11:05)

It is a useful tool to bring the messages that we as an institution want to send to
families.
[Which, what messages?]
For example, we have just passed the dry period, a dry period much longer than
typical, we had the dry period until the 11th or 12th of June, we saw that it was very
dry here, everything was very dry as you can imagine, so we as an institution were
asking how can we communicate with the cocoa growers, communicate with the
people from rural areas so that in some way we can help them to prevent fires.
[ And why didnt you use the radio that exists?]
We used them, we used them, and it was effective because they received our
message, we helped them to control certain fires, they listened to the advice that
we gave them, for example to be around water, where there is greater solar
insolation, and the direction of the wind, etc., etc., so
[But your message, did you pay the radio?]
Because of the emergency that it gave, no. Because of the emergency that it gave
they made a special request for which they classified it as something social; that it
was a benefit for everyone. Regularly, yes, we would pay, but for this emergency,
they gave us the space for free. So, the theme, the importance of the community
radio, for what we do it is of much importance.

*Rony Mndez Caal, Mayor of El Estor (12:50)

The constitution allows us, or the communities, to have community radios without
losing their objective, their original purpose. I believe that the legal framework of
the country does not prohibit communities from having a community radio. (13:16)
What [I did have to contemplate] in the project is that truthfully the people who are
going to minister have, let's say knowledge and have the abilities to train leaders
and make a good organization.
(13:39) The community radio should be established precisely within the heart of the
community. Its said that the radio should function within the communities because
when a radio is established in an urban center it loses its objective, it loses its
reason for being, the radios become commercialized, they use them for other
means, and not for that which they were created.

Adelso Reyes, Current Manager and Former Director of AEDPI (14:11)

From the beginning of AEDPI we have been working to promote the culture of the
light and we have taken the commercial radios so that the message reaches the
communities through radio announcements and educational radio programs, but in
their moment there was much collaboration from some of the radio companies, and
later, more or less in 2006 they identified private investments in these territories
that cut their
In 2009 we had to make an agreement to cooperate with the Catholic Church so
that Izabal could use the Catholic radio. But also at the same time, because of all of
the work that we do the Church sees that we are like a threat to all of their
programming because they denounced the violation of human rights by private
investors with palm, sugar cane, petroleum companies, mining companies,
ranchers, farmers, including some narco-traffickers in the area who violated rights
of the Indigenous communities. So, the radio arrived at its moment as a platform, so
they cut our spaces, so we see that really the only alternative is to have a
community radio in which the communities have the space to inform, the freedom
to express their sentiments, from themselves and from their experiences, because it
isnt the same what I say and what they say.
Matilde Chocooj, Manager AEDPI (15:52)
I cant go to each of the communities, but through the radio I can share many
themes of importance.
[Like what?]
For example, with the institution, the department of [AEDPI] has worked very hard
to empower community leader son the topic of, on Indigenous rights. And also on
the topic of womens rights and also when violent acts are committed against
women it is very important to inform them where they should go, when they are
victims of violence, against women, so these themes are very necessary because
today we know very well, and historically the woman is vulnerable in every way and
so we believe it is very important to have a radio and this helps us a lot so that we
can share themes and also the women can use it as a medium to speak out if they
are victims of any type of violence.
*Angela Caal, Manager AEDPI (17:19)
[Can a community radio empower the women in the community?]
I believe that by means of the radio, it is because of the programs, or radio
announcements that strengthen these women, that they are familiar with the laws,
or their rights. And also it teaches the boys and men. I believe that for the future,
what is needed now is that we begin to shape these boys because some day when
they form a family they will have this mentality of not committing violence against
women.

Robin Maclon, Director of AEDPI (18:06)

[18:14]
The truth, the programs are very expensive because they put normal tariffs, not
what is used commercially, the same that the Central American services collect, but
they collect from us and it is for social work.
We reaffirm our, this position that we need [a community radio] because there isnt
one and its urgent also that the communities have a space also where they can
speak, communicate, where they can broadcast their values too. Before the new
generations who also are having, because of the commercial radios, an update of
other values, cultures that are the same as the Indigenous peoples. Because of this
we use Qeqchi, we said, the necessity to establish a radio to support the
communities since this new tool, since this new medium, to ask for work.