Four Colombian Peace Radio Stations Suspended Over Administrative Requirements

Four peace radio stations located in Tierralta, Buenaventura, Riosucio, and Agustín Codazzi have been temporarily taken off the air. Ángela María Mora, the manager of Inravisison, announced that these stations began operating in 2024 before completing the legal concessions and administrative procedures required to transmit. The Ministry of TIC confirmed that the administrative acts for these four concessions are still under review.

Since August 18, all 20 peace radio stations have suspended their spoken programming and are only transmitting music from Bogotá. While the government maintains that the suspension of the four specific stations is a legal requirement to ensure the legitimate use of the public radio spectrum, the status of the remaining 16 stations remains unclear. These stations serve 463,000 people across 170 municipalities historically affected by conflict and employ over 100 workers.

The suspension has drawn criticism from the Defensoría del Pueblo and the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP). FLIP argued that halting informative programming is not a proportional measure for reviewing content and ignores the public interest function of the stations. Conversely, allies of the government have celebrated the move, describing the stations as megaphones for the now extinct Farc.

Center-leaning coverage emphasizes the impact on the 2016 Peace Agreement, noting that the creation of these stations was the only point of the agreement recorded as 100 percent complete. Center-left coverage frames the event as a potential blow to the Peace Agreement, noting that the current government of Abelardo de la Espriella has been a critic of the accord.