Quetzaltenango, GUATEMALA: In honor of World AIDS day on Dec 1st, Cultural Survival's partner radio association Mujb`ab`l yol held a four-day workshop on HIV/AIDS awareness.  Over 60 Indigenous radio workers participated in the event, covering topics such as symptoms, transmission, prevention, and sensitivity, as well as radio locution, script writing, and audio recording.  A local theater group "Luces Escondidas" performed a skit, and three local organizations chipped in to pay a cost of the food and lodging.

The revised telecommunications law that would legalize community radio in Guatemala is closer than ever to being passed. On August 24^th,  the county’s president, Alvaro Colom, summoned radio operators and Cultural Survival to a meeting at the presidential palace, where Roberto Alejos (president of the Congress), and members of the Supreme Court were to discuss how to grant long-promised broadcast licenses to community radio stations. Unfortunately, the president failed to show at the meeting, and only the head of the judicial branched appeared.

Cultural Survival and the Sauk Language Department, based at the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma, sent our master-apprentice team on a week-long language immersion field trip to their sister language community, the Meskwaki Nation, based in Tama, Iowa.  Team members return from Iowa today, and have spent over 8 hours each day during the past week communicating exclusively in the Sauk/Meskwaki language. They also participated in a language conference designed for local Meskwaki community members to set priorities for long-term language revitalization efforts.

Members of Cultural Survival staff and the Community Radio Movement held discussions Monday at the Congress of the Republic in Guatemala City.