The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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Founded on August 1, 1889,

Listín Diario

is still in existence today, despite periods of adversity. It is an icon-

ic newspaper that often champions its own interests. Over the years, there have been many other newspapers

and magazines that have joined

Listín Diario

The newspaper began circulation as a four-by-five-inch sheet that aimed to report the maritime movement

of the port of Santo Domingo sponsored by the maritime agency of Messrs. Arturo Pellerano Alfau and Julián

Atiles, but which, in a short time, when it reached number 28 of the publication already included French cable

news and became a daily publication. In 1921 Pellerano Alfau was replaced by his

son Arturo Antonio Laureano Pellerano Sardá (1888-1943).

At the beginning of the century,

Listín Diario

was the newspaper with the larg-

est circulation in the country. As an example, when Eugenio María de Hostos, the

leading intellectual and pedagogue at the time, wanted to express his views to bal-

ance some of the more radical ideas of his students who were discussing the draft

constitution, he did not turn to

El Nuevo Regimen

El Normalista

, publications run

by his students, but responded in seven installments in

Listín Diario

Since its inception, the newspaper has sought a standard of impartiality, but it

has been forced to live with the vicissitudes of Dominican political life. Pellerano

Alfau was imprisoned several times by the dictator Ulises Heureaux. During the

military intervention of the United States (1916-1924), the newspaper maintained

a constant nationalistic tone. And under the Trujillo regime, Pellerano Sardá was

imprisoned for a few days for violating law governing the press. He was then

impelled to enroll in the Trujillo party and accept an appointment as a deputy

(1937-1940). However, economic and political pressures forced him to close the

newspaper in 1942.

The façade of the

Grupo Diario Libre

building, Santo

Domingo.

Mr. Arturo Pellerano,

President of the Diario

Libre Group.