The unofficial radio station of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya resumed broadcasting via the Internet on Monday, a day after the country’s caretaker government shuttered it by force. The de facto government issued a decree on Sunday suspending media freedom and some civil liberties and sent troops on Monday to shut down Radio Globo and a television station that backed Zelaya, ousted in a coup three months ago.
The outside world, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and even local media loyal to de facto leader Roberto Micheletti have condemned the closures of Radio Globo and TV station Cholusat Sur, or channel 36. On Tuesday, Radio Globo DJs played “resistance” music and took calls by mobile phone from a cramped peach-colored bedroom in a safe house at the end of a narrow residential alley.
The media curbs have partially stifled Zelaya and his supporters, whose near-daily protests have flagged this week. Radio Globo Director David Romero claimed a large online audience but admitted the station could not maintain its traditional reach. “(Zelaya) has lost his media profile,” Mr Romero said from the makeshift broadcast booth. “Logically, he’s weakened because he does not have the option to communicate.”
Mr Romero said police and soldiers raided Radio Globo at dawn on Monday, seizing thousands of dollars worth of equipment. He and his co-workers were tipped off by a security guard and escaped through a back exit before forces knocked down a large metal gate on their second-floor installations.
Mr Romero said a loophole in the decree allowed the station to continue broadcasting via the Internet. “They took away communication with the people,” said Raul Rodriguez, 42, a Zelaya supporter munching on a ration of white bread and clutching a can of sardines during a small protest. “Radio Globo and channel 36 kept us informed of the marches. Now they’ve been destroyed, we don’t hear anything.”
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)