La Democracia (newspaper)

{{short description|Newspaper founded in 1890 in Ponce, Puerto Rico}}

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = La Democracia

| image = Periódico La Democracia, Ponce, Puerto Rico, edición de 10 de enero de 1893 (DP33v2).jpg

| caption = 10 January 1893 issue of La Democracia

| type = Daily newspaper

| format = Tabloid

| foundation = 1 July 1890[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90070270/ About La democracia. (Ponce, P.R.) 1890-1948.] Library of Congress. Chronicling America: Historic American newspapers. Retrieved 23 September 2012.

| owners = Luis Munoz Rivera

| founder = Luis Muñoz Rivera

| political = Liberal

| ceased publication = 1948

| language = Spanish

| editor = Americo MarinSocorro Giron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y La Campana de la Almudaina. 1992. p. 277.
Luis Muñoz Marín[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/397620/Luis-Munoz-Marin Luis Muñoz Marín] Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 September 2012.

| headquarters = Imprenta "El Vapor"Socorro Giron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y La Campana de la Almudaina. 1992. p. 277.
Calle Cristina
Ponce, Puerto Rico

| website =

}}

La Democracia, founded on 1 July 1890, was a news daily published by Luis Muñoz Rivera in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It crusaded for Puerto Rican self-government.[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/157126/La-Democracia La Democracia.] Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 September 2012. At a publication length of 58 years, it was the longest continuously-running Puerto Rican Spanish newspaper of its time, and one of the longest continuously running Puerto Rican newspapers of all time.[http://www.visitponce.com.asp1-4.websitetestlink.com/docs/SP/ponce_walking_tour.pdf Caminata Guiada: Centro Histórico de Ponce. ] page 3. {{dead link|date=March 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

History

La Democracia was for many years the official organ of the Liberal Party. It began in Ponce in 1890, as a newspaper with three issues per week, but in May, 1893, it became a daily.Socorro Giron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y La Campana de la Almudaina. 1992. p. 277. After ten years in Ponce, in 1900 it moved to Caguas. In 1904, it moved again, to San Juan.[http://newdeal.feri.org/pr/pr03.htm Puerto Rico in the Great Depression: Cultural Life] (Originally from: Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquén. Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, Federal Writers Project. The University Society, Inc., New York. 1940.) Retrieved 23 September 2012. Originally not a daily, it became a daily when Muñoz Rivera imported a Marinori press from the United States.[http://bibliotecavirtualut.suagm.edu/elibros/LibroPR/LPR_Esp/Capitulo_ XIX_CIUDADES_PRINCIPALES.pdf El libro de Puerto Rico: Capitulo XIX: Ciudades Principales: Ponce: Breve Sipnosis Historica, by Juan Braschi.]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} E. Fernandez Garcia, editor. Francis W. Hoadley & Eugenio Astol, co-editors. San Juan, Puerto Rico: El Libro Azul Publishing Company. 1923. Page 1067. Retrieved 26 February 2014. [http://ut.pr/biblioteca//LibroPR/LPR_Esp/Capitulo_%20XIX_CIUDADES_PRINCIPALES.pdf El libro de Puerto Rico: Capitulo XIX: Ciudades Principales: Ponce: Breve Sipnosis Historica.] Juan Braschi. (E. Fernandez Garcia, editor. Francis W. Hoadley & Eugenio Astol, co-editors. San Juan, Puerto Rico: El Libro Azul Publishing Company. 1923.) "Ponce: Breve Sipnosis Historica. In, "El libro de Puerto Rico: Capitulo XIX: Ciudades Principales." p. 1066. Accessed 29 July 2019. Weblink Updated 29 July 2019. The Marinori press could produce 25,000 copies of a newspaper in one hour.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2X84AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA595 An Impressionist at the Paris Exposition.] The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 42. No. 253. November, 1878. p.595. Retrieved 27 February 2014.

Coverage

The publication was mostly directed towards politics, but it also included poetry and stories published by Puerto Rican artists. The newspaper brought immediate controversy, which eventually led to Muñoz Rivera's arrest. Protests were organized throughout Puerto Rico and he was released after his father paid 15,000 pesetas as bond. Muñoz Rivera sold his half of the store, in order to raise funds for the publication's establishment.[http://www.puertorico1924.com/los_patriotas.html Luis Muñoz Rivera.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811085135/http://www.puertorico1924.com/los_patriotas.html |date=11 August 2012 }} El Patriota. Puerto Rico 1924. Retrieved 23 September 2012.

Among the better known writers and contributors in La Democracia were Carlos del Toro Fernández, Gumersindo Rivas, Mariano Abril, Luis Rodríguez Cabrero, and José A. Negrón Sanjurjo, Rafael Matos Bernier, Antonio R. Barceló, José Coll y Vidal, Alfredo Vargas, José Dávila Ricci, Luis Muñoz Marín, Sebastián Dalmau Canet, Samuel R. Quiñones.[http://www.proyectosalonhogar.com/BiografiasPr/luis_munoz_rivera.htm Luis Muñoz Rivera.] Proyecto Salon Hogar. Biografias de Puerto Rico. Retrieved 23 September 2012.

Legacy

La Democracia "laid the groundwork for Ponce's journalistic tradition."[http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=09012901&page=2 Municipalities / Ponce: Founding and History.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529141914/http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=09012901&page=2 |date=29 May 2012 }} Encyclopedia Puerto Rico. Retrieved 23 September 2012. The building structure where La Democracia was edited and printed still stands in Ponce, on Calle Cristina across from Hotel Melia; a plaque on the side of the building states "site of Imprenta 'El Vapor' of Luis Muñoz Rivera".

Other Ponce-based papers

El Ponceño (1852)
El Fénix (1855)
El Derecho (1873) By Roman Baldorioty de Castro.[https://archive.org/details/historiadepuerto00mill/page/n7 Historia de Puerto Rico.] Paul G. Miller. New York: Rand, McNally and Co. 1922. Page 507. Accessed 15 January 2019.
La Crónica (1894) By Ramón Marín.[https://archive.org/details/historiadepuerto00mill/page/n7 Historia de Puerto Rico.] Paul G. Miller. New York: Rand, McNally and Co. 1922. Pages 507. Accessed 15 January 2019.
El Postillón (1894) By Francisco Gonzalo Marín.[https://archive.org/details/historiadepuerto00mill/page/n7 Historia de Puerto Rico.] Paul G. Miller. New York: Rand, McNally and Co. 1922. Pages 507. Accessed 15 January 2019.
El Día (1909)
La Revista de Puerto Rico (ca. 1916)
La Perla del Sur (1982) By Juan J. Nogueras.

References

External links

[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90070270/1893-01-10/ed-1/seq-1/ Image of the 10 January 1893 (Year 3, Issue 393) issue of "La Democracia".] Accessed 21 August 2019.
[https://issuu.com/coleccionpuertorriquena/docs/el_ponce_o_1854 Image of the 25 March 1854 (Year 3, Issue 91) issue of "El Ponceño".] Accessed 18 August 2019.
[https://enciclopediapr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/10031001_TF98PQ78AO73.jpg Image of the 2 August 1856 (Year 2, Issue 57) issue of "El Fenix".] Accessed 18 August 2019. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190615183025/https://enciclopediapr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/10031001_TF98PQ78AO73.jpg Archived 16 June 2019.]
[https://issuu.com/coleccionpuertorriquena/docs/el_avisador_ponce__o_1884 Image of the 8 October 1884 (Year 1, Issue 1) issue of "El Avisador Ponceño".] Accessed 18 August 2019.

Category:Spanish-language newspapers published in Puerto Rico

Category:Defunct newspapers published in Puerto Rico

Category:Newspapers from Ponce, Puerto Rico

Category:Newspapers established in 1890

Category:1890 establishments in Puerto Rico

Category:Companies based in Ponce, Puerto Rico