Every day at 8 a.m., Silvia García opens and cleans the small radio booth set up inside the police station of San Marquitos, a majority Afro-descendant community in the state of Oaxaca, along Mexico’s Pacific coast.

The studio is modest: walls covered with egg cartons for soundproofing, a wooden table, plastic chairs, a computer, a mixing console and two microphones. At 10 o'clock sharp, García goes on air with “Las Negras también Podemos” ("Black Women Can Do It, Too"), a program designed as a space for reflection and inspiration for the women in her community.

Silvia García is in charge of starting the programming every day with a radio program empowering Afro-descendant women. (Photo: Courtesy)

“I try to motivate all my fellow women—or any women—who believe we can’t do it simply because we are Black,” García told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “It’s about offering encouragement and reflecting on all the women leaders who learned how to fight.”

Her childhood dream of having her own radio program came true with Voces Afromexicanas, the first radio station in Mexico with a social-use license for the Afro-Mexican community.

Voces Afromexicanas, which went on air in April 2026, set a precedent in Mexico: for the first time, an Afro-Mexican community secured a radio license to tell its stories in its own voice and fight against historical invisibility. Yet the project—driven by a group of women activists—also demonstrates that sustaining community media in Mexico remains a daily battle.

‘What is not mentioned does not exist’

It was in 2014 that the Costa de Oaxaca Ña' a Tunda collective—a group dedicated to the empowerment and defense of the rights of Afro-Mexican women—sought to establish its own media outlet to share the stories, customs and worldview of its community, as part of its struggle for recognition and visibility. Ña' a Tunda means “Black women” in Mixtec.

“As a people, as Afro-Mexican women, we were also interested in having a media outlet where our voices could be heard,” Yolanda Camacho, leader of Ña’a Tunda and founder of the station, told LJR. “We needed a media outlet that belonged exclusively to the Afro-Mexican community.”

The collective started by taking courses on community communication, radio workshops and the use of the spoken word, Camacho said. In 2019, they made their first attempt to apply for a radio license from the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT, for its initials in Spanish), the regulatory body for this sector in Mexico.

At that point, the legislation provided for community and Indigenous social-use concessions but did not explicitly recognize Afro-Mexican peoples.

After numerous requests, meetings and fulfilled requirements, the regulatory body offered the collective an Indigenous community radio license.

But for Camacho, that was not an option.

“I said, ‘No. It has to be an Afro-Mexican community radio station,’” she said. “We’ve learned that what isn’t mentioned doesn’t exist—and what isn’t written down, even less so. I kept saying, ‘They’re going to give me a community radio station designated for Indigenous social use, but I’m not Indigenous.’ Right from the name, it was about recognizing it as an Afro-Mexican station.”

In 2022, with support from a fund from the U.S. non-profit organization Cultural Survival, they managed to acquire basic audio equipment and a computer, Camacho said. That is how Voces Afromexicanas was born as an online station.

Following a constitutional reform approved during the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2024, Afro-Mexican peoples were constitutionally recognized as part of Mexico's pluricultural makeup, which helped their demands for representation and access to rights, including their own media outlets.

Against this backdrop, in 2023, the federal telecommunications institute included Afro-Mexican communities for the first time in its Program for the Promotion and Fostering of Community and Indigenous Broadcasting, which is aimed at developing social and community broadcasting projects. Ña’a Tunda took advantage of this initiative, which provided the group with training and guidance to reapply for a concession.

Finally, in June 2024, the first social-use radio concession for an Afro-Mexican community was approved for the collective, which would operate on the 107.3 FM frequency with a coverage range of about 15 miles.

After several months of administrative procedures and test broadcasts, the collective received authorization in January of this year to go on air. On April 24, Voces Afromexicanas officially began broadcasting with a team of 10 people—mostly women—and a reach extending to more than 40 communities, Camacho said.

“The significance here is that we are going to share our history, our context and our worldview,” she said. “It is highly relevant—very important—that we listen to one another through our stories and our communities.”

Camacho said one of her current tasks is to encourage those Afro-descendant communities in other states to apply for radio licenses and begin speaking from their own contexts.

Voices for visibility and representation

Voces Afromexicanas features nine programs covering topics ranging from traditional medicine and Afro-Mexican cuisine to environmental conservation, as well as stories and legends for children.

Yolanda Camacho is the leader of the Ña’a Tunda collective and founder of Voces Afromexicanas community radio station. (Photo: Voces Afromexicanas on Facebook)

In Mexico, there are more than 2.5 million people who identify as Afro-descendant, representing approximately 2.5 percent of the country's population, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

Mariana Patrón, a representative of the National Committee of Community, Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Radio Stations, said the emergence of Voces Afromexicanas has been fundamental to ensuring the representation of this community within Mexico's pluralistic and intercultural landscape.

“It is very important how Afro-Mexican women assert their position within a territory shared with Indigenous and mestizo populations—and that their rights within that territory be recognized,” Patrón told LJR. “But beyond that, it is crucial that they have the opportunity to speak and make their voices heard to articulate their feelings and lived experiences.”

Patrón said that the territories of these communities within Oaxaca receive scant coverage from traditional media. And when coverage does exist, it often fails to reflect the reality experienced by the inhabitants of those peoples, she added.

“Beyond simply engaging in Indigenous or Afro-Mexican media, what we are doing is defending our territory,” Patrón said. “That is why having our own media outlet is a strategic commitment—to share what is happening in the territory and ensure that this information is truly created by us and for us, the people who inhabit the land.”

Having a media outlet of one's own—but at what cost?

The launch of Voces Afromexicanas has not been without its challenges, and the main one so far has been sustainability.

Just over a month after formally beginning operations, the station has stopped broadcasting daily due to the cost of electricity, which proved higher than expected for the operation of its equipment.

The team members work on a voluntary basis and have at times even had to voluntarily contribute resources to purchase equipment, Camacho said.

“We aren’t generating revenue; we don’t have funds for maintenance—nothing,” she said. “That’s also putting us behind, because we have to find a way to cover the radio station’s maintenance costs.”

Camacho said the station has organized raffles among the people of San Marquitos to cover basic needs. However, although the public's response has been positive, the team knows it is not a sustainable model.

A social-use radio license prohibits for-profit operations. Although certain forms of financing and sponsorship provided for by law are accessible, commercial activity is strictly limited.

Although the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law reserves up to 1 percent of federal government advertising for community and indigenous media, organizations such as the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters in Mexico maintain that these mechanisms are insufficient to ensure their sustainability.

While the right of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples to have their own media outlets is enshrined in law, in reality, mechanisms are needed to make these outlets sustainable projects, Patrón said.

“Some radio stations draw power from municipal sources, and many end up without electricity. They don’t have their own internet access, either. The costs of maintaining a radio station are very high,” Patrón said. “A license doesn’t guarantee the survival of an Afro-Mexican community radio station, because we aren’t small or medium-sized enterprises. Sometimes we are more concerned with administrative matters than with our production content.”

This article was translated with AI assistance and reviewed by Teresa Mioli