El Pueblo (Nicaraguan newspaper)

El Pueblo
Type Daily (1979-1980), Thrice-weekly (1989), Weekly (1990)
Format Tabloid[1]
Owner(s) Cooperative
Publisher Frente Obrero
Editor Melvin Wallace
Founded 1979
Political alignment MAP-ML
Ceased publication 1980
Relaunched 1989
Headquarters Managua
Circulation ~4,000-7,000

El Pueblo ('The People') was a revolutionary newspaper published in Nicaragua. El Pueblo was the organ of Frente Obrero ('Workers Front'), the trade union wing of the Marxist–Leninist Popular Action Movement (MAP-ML).[2][3][4] The newspaper began publication in March 1979.[5][6]

Published daily, El Pueblo appealed to factory workers and university students.[6][7][8] It was published by a cooperative.[9] Melvin Wallace served as the editor [10] and Carlos Cuadra was the director.[11] El Pueblo had a circulation of around 4,000-7,000 copies.[9]

El Pueblo was shut down briefly by the government on July 23, 1979.[9][7] On January 21, 1980 the Sandinista government banned the newspaper, on the ground of having incited economic sabotage.[9][4][12][8][13] Frente Obrero had defied government orders for restraint by organizing strikes at the San Antonio sugar mills and Monterrosa plantations.[14] MAP-ML were accused by the government of being 'ultra-leftists and financed by the Communist Party of China'.[15] On January 23, 1980 the office of El Pueblo in Managua was raided and its printing presses and office equipment were confiscated by soldiers from the Sandinista Popular Army.[10][7] Two journalists and one office assistant were arrested in the army raid. Various persons linked to El Pueblo were charged with counter-revolutionary activities. Wallace, Cuadra and two Frente Obrero leaders (Isidro Téllez and Juan Alberto Enríquez) were charged by the Masaya Court of Appeals, on the ground of articles published in El Pueblo issue no. 159 published on January 5, 1980 (which had argued that the price of coffee had been reduced by the Sandinista Front as retaliation of the plantation workers' militancy, and that the government was not fulfilling its promises of land redistribution) and in issue no. 179 published on January 19, 1980 (which criticized the discourse of the national literacy campaign, arguing in favour slogans calling for the end of latifundio). The court considered the articles as having a 'potentially destabilizing effect on the Government'.[10]

After its closure, El Pueblo was replaced by Prensa Proletaria.[12][8]

During the National Dialogue MAP-ML demanded that the properties of El Pueblo (valued at around 300,000 U.S. dollars) be returned to them, a demand that was accepted by the government.[6][15] El Pueblo resumed thrice-weekly publication in 1989, but was then generally not available at newsstands and bookshops.[7] As of 1990, it was reportedly published on weekly basis but had limited circulation.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Panorama internacional, Eds 23–36. ICAN, S.A., 1990. p. 33
  2. ↑ Wolf, Ulrike. Soziopolitische Konflikte in Nicaragua 1979-1982. Saarbrücken: Breitenbach, 1985. p. 173
  3. ↑ Trujillo Bolio, Mario A. Organización y luchas del movimiento obrero latinoamericano, 1978-1987. México, D.F.: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 1988. p. 83
  4. 1 2 Stahler-Sholk, Richard. La Política económica en Nicaragua, 1979-88: bibliografía comentada, cronología básica. Managua, Nicaragua: Coordinadoría Regional de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales, 1989. p. 63
  5. ↑ Barrios de Chamorro, Violeta. Memorias de mi gobierno, 1990-1996. Managua, Nicaragua: Gobierno de la República de Nicaragua, Dirección de Comunicación Social de la Presidencia, 1996. p. 51
  6. 1 2 3 Vargas, Oscar-René. Nicaragua: los partidos políticos y la búsqueda de un nuevo modelo. Managua, Nicaragua: Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo ECOTEXTURA, 1990. pp. 109-110
  7. 1 2 3 4 Ameringer, Charles D. Political Parties of the Americas: 1980s to 1990s : Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies. Westport, Conn. u.a: Greenwood Press, 1992. p. 463
  8. 1 2 3 Update, Vol. 6. Central American Historical Institute, 1987. p. 4
  9. 1 2 3 4 Blair, Krista (Krista Margaret), and Carleton University. Dissertation. Journalism and Communication. Communication, Revolution, and Social Movements; Freedom of the Press in Nicaragua 1979-1990. 1998.
  10. 1 2 3 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Republic of Nicaragua. Washington, D.C.: General Secretariat, Organization of American States, 1981. p. 122
  11. ↑ Aguirre, Erick. La espuma sucia del río: sandinismo y transición política en Nicaragua. Managua: CIRA, 2001. p. 181
  12. 1 2 Camacho, Daniel, and Rafael Menjívar. Los Movimientos populares en América Latina. México, D.F.: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 1989. p. 114
  13. ↑ Lopez, George A., and Michael Stohl. Liberalization and Redemocratization in Latin America. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 88
  14. ↑ Alexander, Robert J., and Eldon M. Parker. A History of Organized Labor in Panama and Central America. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2008. p. 110
  15. 1 2 Centroamérica hoy, Eds. 16–59. Unidad de Información del Programa de Apoyo a la Paz, la Cooperación y el Desarrollo en Centroamérica, 1989. p. ii.
  16. ↑ Cortés Domínguez, Guillermo. La lucha por el poder: revés electoral sandinista. Managua, Nicaragua: Editorial Vanguardia, 1990. p. 259
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.