Censor Bleeps Radio Nanduti : Paraguayan Broadcaster Stung by Static

ASUNCION, Paraguay —  Broadcaster Humberto Rubin of Radio Nanduti knows that he has one listener who pays close attention to every word he says on the air--a censor.

Anytime Rubin utters something critical of the government or favoring its opponents, the censor hits a button that cuts him off and leaves the airwaves filled with static.

One morning he was interrupted 22 times during the first three hours of broadcast time. The censor hit the button for 28 straight days in May and early June and then stopped. But by the middle of June the interference started up again.

The interference is the latest episode in a nearly six-year battle between Rubin and authorities and supporters of the 32-year-old rightist government of President Alfredo Stroessner, who rules with near-absolute power.

500,000 Listeners

Radio Nanduti, owned and operated by the 51-year-old Rubin, is one of the most popular of Paraguay’s 30 radio stations. Its 10-kilowatt voice, broadcasting mostly news, commentary, interviews and sports, is heard by an estimated 500,000 listeners in this capital and nearby towns.

The station and its owner, who says his politics are left-of-center, have become increasingly identified with government opponents and critics, including politicians, independent union leaders, students and ordinary citizens, who call to air complaints on topics ranging from alleged administrative corruption, a stopped-up sewer or a neighbor’s barking dog.

“Paraguay needs an independent voice,” Rubin said in a recent interview. “The station is a sort of sounding board for the opposition and the people. For them, we represent a small flame of freedom.”

Rubin often is assailed by “The Voice of Coloradismo,” the daily half-hour radio show of Stroessner’s Colorado Party, and by pro-government newspapers. In addition, his right to speak on the air has been suspended for varying periods; his station has been temporarily closed; he has been detained by the police, and the station has come under damaging attack by gangs.

Voice for the Opposition

But the government has not gone so far as to close Radio Nanduti permanently, as it did on March 22, 1984, with ABC Color, the country’s largest newspaper, with a circulation of 80,000, owned by wealthy businessman Aldo Zuccolillo. The paper, which also provided a voice for the opposition and criticized the government, was accused by the Interior Ministry of endangering peace and stability in the country.

“They don’t close him (Rubin) because they fear the international consequences of such a step,” said Zuccolillo, whose own closure provoked a flood of protest from international news organizations.

The interference in Rubin’s broadcasts began in May, after two attacks on the station’s studio and transmitter. The censorship also coincided with a wave of street demonstrations and police actions against them--all reported by Radio Nanduti until the censor began work.

In one attack, Rubin says, about 100 government supporters, using clubs and rocks, broke every window in the Radio Nanduti building while a band on a flatbed truck played Colorado Party songs.

Equipment Destroyed

In a second attack, five masked men entered the station’s suburban transmitter, overpowered a police guard and destroyed or removed equipment, forcing the station off the air for 17 hours.

Rubin continues to broadcast, nevertheless, and sometimes carries on a one-sided conversation with his censor.

“Are you unbalanced or are you just obeying your master?” he said in one broadcast. “You’re hitting the button too often. Has the punishment stopped now? Can we continue?”

He complained to judicial authorities about the interference, but Col. Francisco Duarte said the state communications company he heads lacked the technology to locate the source and stop it.

Revenue Lost

Rubin said the censorship along with pressure on his advertisers has cost the station nearly half its revenue in the last month or so.

Rubin said the loss of revenue, although partially made up by spontaneous donations from sympathetic listeners, may force him to make some changes.

“We’re thinking of turning Radio Nanduti into a cooperative station and are studying how to distribute shares among the public. We would convert it into a sort of people’s radio station.”

He said he once was a supporter of the Stroessner government.

“I was very convinced that a good strong hand was necessary, but gradually I came to believe that we Paraguayans had grown out of that, that the people had matured. . . . Now they accuse me of being the discordant factor. They claim that I am responsible for everything negative that happens.”