By Ingrid Bachmann
The National Telecommunications Council (Conatel) of Ecuador ordered the closure of radio broadcaster La Voz de la Esmeralda Oriental Canela and rejected an appeal by the owner, journalist Wilson Cabrera, who is fighting the non-renewal of the radio's frequency, reported Fundamedios/IFEX.
Cabrera told the newspaper Hoy that the radio will not close. He will continue his appeals to keep the station, which broadcasts in the Amazonian region of Ecuador, operating. The article also noted that in recent years the station has denounced various corruption cases in the region.
The closure ordered by Conatel was attributed to an administrative issue: operating a station without authorization. However, the Committee to Protect Journalists said the charges were false and that the closure is an attempt to silence a critical voice.
In a column in the newspaper Hoy, César Ricaurte said the closure is a “constitutional and legal barbarity and clearly an attack against the rights and freedoms of expression and press."
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
