After 59 years on the air, the Quito radio station La Pantera 960 AM was closed down and its equipment seized two days ago by the chief of police of Pichincha province, Fausto Velásquez, accompanied by 15 officials from his department and representatives of the public prosecutor’s office and the telecoms regulator Supertel.
The closure was officially in response to the stationÂ’s arrears in the payment of its licence fees. The same reason was also given in the cases of four of seven other media outlets closed down in the past fortnight. Representatives of the radio and television stations concerned believe, however, that the real reasons were political. This encroachment on the airwaves is a serious cause for concern.
The closure of Radio Cosmopolita was followed a day later by that of two more stations, RU Matriz Cadena Sur Ecuador 120 AM and K-Mil 89.5 FM, both based in El Oro province. The first was shut down for "lacking a licence to broadcast" and the second for "failing to comply with its licensing agreement". According to its own figures, Supertel has closed 14 media outlets since the start of the year.
“In the case of Radio Cosmopolita and the others, not all legal avenues have been explored and that arouses suspicions about the reasons for these steps against broadcasting organizations, which include not just the withdrawal of frequency rights but also the seizure of equipment,” Reporters Without Borders said.
