Sovereign Radio of the Chaparé

During the 2004 July-August School of Authentic Journalism in Bolivia, the lucky scholars and professors got to meet as a colleague Egberto Winston Chipana Limachi, the director of Radio Soberania (“Radio Sovereignty”) in the town of Chipriri of the Chapare, the heart of the current coca growers movement.  The station reaches 96 percent of the public in the Tropic of Cochabamba, Authentic Journalism scholar Romina Trincheri wrote at the time: "Walking the small earthen paths that connect the homes of the traditional coca growers, we find that the radio is listened to, sometimes in Spanish, and for a good part of the day in Quechua."  Quechua is the indiginous language and name of the second-largest ethnicity in Bolivia.

Wearing an "erbol" T-shirt (the back read, in Spanish "if you listen to ERBOL you listen to Bolivia") Egberto Chipana talked to us about his radio station. (If anyone has better notes than I, please correct and expand as you can.)

Sovereign radio was founded by campesinos (peasant farmers) here, with a lot of help from Wilde Moscosa.  [Many campesinos or cocaleros (coca growers) are former miners.  After decree 21060 acted to, in Oscar Olivera's words, "destroy the unions and privatize state-owned companies,"] many miners came to Chapare just to survive.  The social movements in the Tropic area have mine labor schools [with a radical alternative to government education].  The radio [station] began in 1997 and since then has been an instrument, a voice of the cocaleros.

We consider radio to be a school of the campesinos.  The programming is in Spanish and Quechua; 45% of programs in Quechua.

[A typical day:]

6:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. – music, and letters from people: spoken mail.

7:00 a.m. to 8 a.m. – national network broadcasts from ERBOL

9 a.m. to noon programming is directed to people in smaller towns.

12 noon to 1 p.m. – ERBOL

From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. off the air for siesta.

5 p.m. Quechua again.

6 p.m. to 7 p.m. – ERBOL.

7:00 p.m. to 8 p.m. – national network but in Quechua.

With this we have a role in reporting for them what happens here.  We report a lot in times of conflict, but [when there isn't conflict] even then we let people know everything is all right.

8:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. – mail of the people, with such things as "we've lost our cow and we need to know where it is" and birthday party for our son.

At 9:45 we close all info and for next 45 minutes have gentle programs, say the most humorous things that happened during the day.  That's the work every day Monday through Friday.

Saturday 9 a.m. to 12 noon we accept and try to play songs young people ask us to play, try to find what is most popular.

But later in the day we go to traditional music.  This is a time for coca chewing and talking.  People call to ask for certain music – still traditional music – sometimes we get so many calls we have to kill the line.

Sunday afternoon programming includes sports.

All this is done with a staff of six, including a director [Egberto Chipana himself], a secretary, two technicians, each with proper training also announcers, and two reporters.

The yearly budget for salaries is $13,000, including Christmas benefit.  Normal operating expenses including to replace damage to equipment can be $5,000 to $6,000, recently $7,000 to $8,000 to replace lightning damage.

Work without worrying, get a lot of help from groups organized in union halls, announcements cost 2 bolivianos apiece.  Support from the Andean Development Corporation covers about 40% of costs.

Wilde Moscosa also talked to us, and he laid out the political implications of this community-oriented radio a little more directly.

We live just as you see.  Complete tranquility.  There is nothing bad like you are told.  We are known as narcoterrorists but here you can see we are not.

Radio is another tool to be able to orient ad explain to people.  There is no other means to reach every adult.

We are considering a TV station to show our companions how we live.

It is hard to do this radio station, and we have received important help.  I think this radio station is absolutely necessary.

There's a complete lack of respect and accountability from the government.  [With the radio station] we are able to inform nation and even internationally about abuses.

They said they reach most of the 70,000 inhabitants of the Chapare.

Egberto continued, now also with a more political analysis.

The media [front of the social] war is the reason I think the station came into existence, maybe at the worst time, during the conflict between the cocaleros and state when Sovereign Radio began.

The radio station was closed down in 2002.

Silence.

[But it was already established as] community radio.  So farmers went and blockaded the Santa Cruz to Cochabamba highway.  The government had no choice but to order the equipment returned.

Sovereign radio at the time didn't have a license...
Now we have order from government.

We've seen the power of radio.  For example, one of the first days [after we began broadcasting] in the area, we heard two explosions of dynamite.  Our companions said something bad was going to happen.  Military trucks going in to eradicate coca.

At midday the private television station reported "cocaleros wounded two soldiers in eyes with bullets."  We were there, saw movement in bushes – I'm sure some animal – [military and police fired weapons].  That's how two policemen were wounded.  [Also part of a] a problem between military and police.  [We] asked for a ballistics study and one was never made.

Another time we're following behind police.  They said homemade landmine [caused damage], we reported it was self-done.

They never could show hard evidence.

[Our reporting] made them a little more careful.  [There was a little more] peace and tranquility.