Mayan TV

Reaching the people

Mayan TV broadcasts in GuatemalaThe time was right. On April 23, a television station that once was the voice of the Guatemalan military dictatorship that had massacred thousands of Mayans showed the glyph of the day from the millennial Mayan calendar and announced itself as "TV Maya: Guatemala's multi-cultural station."

The indigenous people of Guatemala finally had their own television station.

"This is a dream that indigenous people have had for many years: to have a means of communication," Mayan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu told Agence France-Presse at the official inauguration of the station, which was also attended by Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom and other dignitaries.

The station, funded by the Guatemalan Academy of Mayan Languages (ALMG), broadcasts for 30 minutes, three times a day, showing programs that teach Mayan culture, worldview and language. Its programs are broadcast in indigenous languages with Spanish subtitles.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.