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Supreme Court recognizes Mexico's linguistic diversity in broadcasts

Judges annuls law enshrining exclusive use of Spanish in commercial stations

Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation declared unconstitutional a part of article 230 of the Law on telecommunications and broadcasting which stated that "commercial radio stations must use the national language", that is to say Spanish. The law was limiting the use of indigenous language in broadcasts.

The ruling follows a lawsuit filed by Nahuatl language writer, poet and journalist Mardonio Carballo, who in 2014 began a legal fight against article 230 since he deemed it to be discriminatory against indigenous languages.

The resolution of the First Chamber of the Court unanimously invalidated the law's fragment. The Court's judges argue on the one hand that the wording does not recognize the country's enormous linguistic diversity, and on the other that it limits indigenous peoples' freedom of expression. In this regard, the ruling reads: "The Supreme Court recognizes the rights of indigenous people to effectively access [radio] commercial licenses and to broadcast through them their precious cultural, without this being at the expense of [indigenous] language use."

Indigenous languages spoken by more than 100,000 people:


Indigenous languages spoken by 20,000 to 100,000 people:




Indigenous languages spoken by less than 20,000 people:

 
(This article was first published on Occitan news site Jornalet, with which Nationalia has a partnership agreement. English translation by Nationalia.)