The Radio of the South (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''La Radio del Sur'') is an international radio network based in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. It was launched in January 2010, after a trial period of four months,Vheadline.com, 28 February 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez inaugurates Radio of the South network
/ref> which began shortly after the

Second Africa-South America Summit The Second Africa-South America Summit took place in September 2009 on Margarita Island, Venezuela, with the participation of Heads of state from 61 countries (49 from Africa and 12 from South America).Venezuelanalysis.com, 27 September 2009Africa- ...

. The network follows the 2005 launch of TeleSur, a television network aimed at Latin America.

History

The network began operations in September 2009 with 88 stations in Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Canada and Spain, including 18 stations in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and 10 in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

AllAfrica.com AllAfrica is a website that aggregates news produced primarily on the African continent about all areas of African life, politics, issues and culture. It is available in both English and French and produced by AllAfrica Global Media, which has of ...

, 6 October 2009
South-South Radio From Caracas to Africa
/ref> Whilst initially focussed on countries with Spanish-speaking populations, the network aims eventually to translate programming into French, English, Dutch and Arabic, to provide coverage for Africa. Initially it was reported that around a third of its content would be produced in Caracas (with the remaining content produced by allied stations in Latin America and Africa); '' El Universal'', 30 September 2009
Aparato mediático del Estado suma dos emisoras
/ref> at launch it was said it would be around 60%.

Controversy

In May 2011 workers at the Radio of the South protested against the dismissal of the network's president, stating that the move did not respect the network's internal participatory process, and was "without any explanation or formality, behaviour that is incoherent with socialist principles". Workers said the dismissal was a reprisal for the network's critical reporting of Venezuela's deportation to Colombia of Joaquin Pérez Becerra, an alternative media activist accused of

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...

links. Becerra was a Colombian councillor for the Patriotic Union who was granted asylum in Sweden.

Venezuelanalysis.com Venezuelanalysis is a pro-Bolivarian Revolution website Also available aZnet./ref> that describes itself as "an independent website produced by individuals who are dedicated to disseminating news and analysis about the current political situation ...

, 5 May 2011
The Handing Over of Pérez Becerra and the Strategy of the Venezuelan Revolution
/ref>

References

{{coord missing, Venezuela Radio stations established in 2010 Radio stations in Venezuela Mass media in Caracas