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In the early 1980s Carlos Henríquez Consalvi, alias Santiago, was a young journalist determined to set up a clandestine radio station in the midst of El Salvador’s civil war. Born to political dissident parents in Venezuela, Carlos spent his childhood in exile, and his student years supporting the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. He had a knack for being in the thick of it. Soon the guerilla struggle in neighbouring El Salvador caught his attention and he formed a bold and, some would say crazy, idea to found a radio station to give voice to the resistance. But the Salvadoran military had posts all over the country and the crackdown of opposition was extremely violent. Could Carlos pull it off? This episode is the first of two about the power of the humble radio, a rebellion where the airwaves were a central battleground, and the man whose voice was behind it all.

Clips courtesy of el Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, and Associated Press

Presenter: Louise Morris
Producer: Louise Morris
Voice over: Rafael Montero

(Photo: Santiago recording with an FMLN guerilla, Credit: el Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen)