La Gaceta Newspaper

Victoriano Manteiga, the legendary founder and editor of La Gaceta, sailed to Tampa from Cuba in 1913, and went to work in the Morgan Cigar Factory in West Tampa as a reader (lector). Readers held a special place in the cigar industry , a practice which originated in Cuba before the advent of radio.

Readers would sit on a raised

platform (tribuna) and read a wide variety of materials to the cigar workers busy at their workbenches. It is interesting to note that they were called 'readers' and not 'lecturers.' This was partly because the reader would not select what was to be read--the cigar workers did. Topics read included novels, plays, political publications, local, National and international news,and proved educational for reader and listener alike.

Manteiga would write
his column and with
the help of his staff,
the paper was put together. The Mascuananas would print it and La Gaceta was on the newsstands late every afternoon
on Monday through Saturday.

In 1920 cigar worker strikes caused Victoriano to seek more secure means of employment. He began discussing his idea of publishing a Spanish newspaper with Dr. Jose Avellanal, an admired doctor and humanitarian. In 1922 Dr Avellanal contacted the Mascunana Printers, and in the same year their combined efforts yielded the first issue of La Gaceta. From the beginning, the paper stressed quality over quantity. It was a journalistic effort to inform, not a soapbox to lecture from. Read more.