SOL89.9 Communications, Cozumel's only radio station

Conflict of Interest Not an Issue in Cozumel

June 2 , 2007
By Andrew Abraham, junior advertising major

Editor's note: Luis Pavia is the General Director for Sol Communications, the only radio station on the entire island of Cozumel. The University of Nebraska College of Journalism study abroad group visited with Pavia recently in Mexico.

Pavia started his career as a fireman. He opened Cozumel's first fire station 26 years ago with help of former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, who sold Pavia the island's first fire truck for one dollar. Since then, Pavia established the Red Cross on the island and, in doing so, became the first Mexican citizen to be given an award by the Red Cross.

Pavia is also the chief of police on the island, making him the right hand man of the mayor.

Here's the rub - there is an hour of time allotted in the evening's radio program for citizens to call in and make complaints about the public service works, government and the police. So why, then, is the head of police working at the only radio station that takes these complaint calls from the locals? Why is this man, who is so closely connected to the government, working as the director for a mass media outlet?
Pavia explains that he is allowed to hold the two positions and insists that he keeps his affiliation with the government separate from work.

"My policy (at the radio station) and politics are totally different," he says.

However, if you were to walk down the back streets and look in every house and corner restaurant, you would notice that everyone has a radio. Doesn't it seem strange that one company has a monopoly over the major form of mass media? What about the people who don't have access to other media? Without regulation by the government or anything resembling the Federal Communications Commission, this company has total control over the information they release.

So what may seem like a classic case of conflict of interest to us, for the people of Cozumel, it doesn't seem to be an issue. Pavia has been working for the police and the radio station for over 20 years.

Unfortunately, all attempts of locals starting their own broadcast companies have failed. The money that Sol Communications has and their level of technology is far too advanced for any locals to match. It will have to take a lot of money and the right people to compete with this company. It just doesn't look like it will be anytime soon.