Mexico City, Mexico, April 6th, 2017
Mexico is amidst a profound human rights crisis. For Regeneración Radio it is of great importance that we begin to speak of the aggressions carried out against the communication media–aggressions that are more and more prevalent, more and more violent–to remember that communication is a human and inalienable right.
The years have been difficult in this journey in the exercise of the right to communication: professional or not. The reports of the organization, Article 19, have shown increasing numbers: In 2015 there were at least 397 aggressions against the press, including seven assassinated journalists. In 2016, there were 426 aggressions, including eleven assassinations. This year, 2017, is no exception. In the month of March, the first three assassinations of the year were reported.
We are a free, autonomous and self-organized media that has carried out communicative labor since 1999 in Mexico CIty. Our proposal means a rejection of the privatization of communication. Our recent history has been filled with aggressions, threats, and the destruction of our facilities.
On March 7th, 2017, the cabin of Regeneración Radio was robbed: the door was opened by force and all of the radio equipment was removed: microphones, cables, headphones, mixers, audio processors and a computer with an archive of more than ten years of our work. It is important to note that from the house where the radio cabin was located, only the radio equipment was taken. This is not the first time that we have been attacked. Remember that September 21, 2015, our previous cabin was completely destroyed by a violent group at UNAM. This took place along with physical aggressions, death threats, and an assassination attempt against one of our members, who was stabbed three times, both in his back and abdomen.
In our almost 18 long years of existence, we have suffered threats, arrests, beatings, the destruction and robbery of our equipment, fear, impunity and violence. The interference of our FM signal, after covering nearly 80 percent of Mexico City from 2012 to 2016, also has been part of our reality.
Today we are not transmitting, something we previously did on a daily basis. Although we have developed ourselves in other areas, they have slowed down one of the most important pillars of our project. We are seeking support through a solidarity campaign, to again acquire the equipment that was taken from our work space and return as soon as possible to develop our radio transmissions, as well as our activities of production and post-production.
We know that we aren’t the only case in the country. We are in solidarity with other radio, media, and journalistic processes of organization that have been beaten and also assassinated. We appeal to defend this right–which more than professional–is a basic right of humanity.
Regeneración Radio/ Communication Against Power
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