Indigenous Women Broadcasters Gather to Strengthen Voices and Fight Mining Impacts
Indigenous women broadcasters from Mexico and Bolivia convened in Cuetzalan, Mexico, for the 6th Assembly of Indigenous Women Broadcasters from May 23 to 25, 2025. The event, organized by Cultural Survival's Indigenous Rights Radio program, brought together 22 women from Mexico and three from Bolivia. Gumercinda Quispe, an Aymara broadcaster from Apachita Radio in Bolivia, underscored the significance of community radio as a tool of identity and resistance.
The gathering centered on honing capacities for Indigenous women communicators. Workshops delved into the impacts of mining for transition minerals, traditional medicine, food sovereignty, and community communication. Miguel Ángel Mijangos Leal of PIAP led a workshop on transition minerals and their influence on Indigenous peoples. Participants shared experiences of mining projects' effects on their communities and discussed the necessity to fortify organization and access to information for territorial defense. Indigenous Rights Radio forged production agreements with some participants to create radio programs exploring these impacts.
The 6th Assembly of Indigenous Women Broadcasters sought to cultivate a movement of women communicators producing top-tier content. With a long-term vision of biennial workshops expanding to thirty women from Mexico and Central America, the event stimulated knowledge exchange and capacity building among Indigenous women broadcasters.
