facilitate the broadest exercise of freedom of expression, avoiding any type of decision that could be considered as a form of exclusion. 142. However, as noted the previous sections, the regulation of radio broadcasting in Guatemala is fundamentally determined by the LGT. This law establishes the public auction as the only mechanism for accessing a radio frequency, with the highest bid being the sole criterion for adjudication. The Court finds that this criterion, despite appearing neutral, severely restricts opportunities for access to the spectrum. Thus, instead of promoting a plurality of voices through mechanisms that ensure diversity in the media, the LGT ends up creating, indirectly, space for only one type of radio: commercial, for-profit radio. 143. Moreover, Governmental Agreement 316, signed by the then President of Guatemala in 2002, with the aim of facilitating access to the spectrum for some organizations that otherwise would not have it, did not prove to be an adequate instrument to ensure access to radio frequencies for indigenous communities. In this regard, the agreement only granted a limited number of frequencies and did so through a mechanism that appears to lack sufficient legal certainty, as would be the case of a law. Additionally, one of the declarants in the public hearing stated that “nobody wanted” those frequencies, that “they are not useful,” and that there is broadcasting equipment that can no longer be connected to those frequencies. He also indicated that few people listen to the frequencies granted, their quality is poor and their operating cost is very high. 213 Thus, the Court considers that Governmental Agreement 3162002 cannot be considered as a legitimate or adequate instrument to promote a plural, diverse and inclusive regulation of broadcasting. 144. The Court agrees with the Commission’s statement that there are strong indications of the existence, for many years, of an oligopoly in the ownership and operation of the media in Guatemala, and that there have been no “significant advances in relation to the excessive levels of concentration in the ownership and control of audiovisual media […].” 214 In fact, a small group of communication companies appears to control the audiovisual media. 215 As for the “radio spectrum, [it is] dominated by six corporations: Emisoras Unidas de Guatemala, Central de Radios, Grupo Radial El Tajín, Grupo Radio Rumbos, Radio Grupo Alius and Radio Corporación Nacional.” 216 145. On this matter, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala stated that the market for open radio and television frequencies is “largely dominated by an oligopoly.” 217 According to the Latin American Association of Communication Researchers (Asociación Latinoamericana de Investigadores de la Comunicación - ALAIC) Guatemala is characterized by a market of open radio and television frequencies, with an extreme media concentration, dominated by large business groups that own extensive radio networks, affiliated with the Guatemalan Chamber of Radio Broadcasting, […] thus, broadcasting, especially Cf. Statement rendered by Anselmo Xunic, supra. IACHR. Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, OAS/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 208/17, December 31, 2017, para. 301. Available at: http://www.oas.org/eng/iachr/reports/pdfs/Guatemala2017-eng.pdf. 215 Cf. International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. Political Financing in Guatemala, July 16, 2015, p. 35. Available at: http://www.cicig.org/uploads/documents/2015/informe _financiamiento_politicagt.pdf. Expert opinion rendered by affidavit by Lorie Graham, supra (evidence file, folio 1472), and OAS, IACHR. Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, supra, para. 301. 216 International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. Political Financing in Guatemala, supra, p. 35. 217 Human Rights Research Unit, Office of the Ombudsman for Indigenous Peoples. Nota conceptual sobre las radios comunitarias, una aproximación al contexto de Guatemala. 2020, supra, p. 12. According to the Ombudsman’s Office, “[n]umerous studies have noted the high concentration of media ownership in Guatemala, particularly the radio and broadcast television oligopolies. The report of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), on the “González case,” presented at the hearing “Diversity, pluralism and concentration in the media in the Americas,” during the 154th regular session of the IACHR, states that this media oligopoly “affects the quality and quantity of information on matters of public interest received by Guatemalan citizens.” 213 214 -40-