Rafael Viera y Ayala y el nacimiento de La Prensa de Nueva York

Abstract

Rafael Viera y Ayala, an immigrant from the Canary Islands, was the founder of La Prensa in 1913, a Spanish-language weekly based in New York that, over the years, would turn into one of the most important Spanish-language newspapers in the United States during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: El Diario La Prensa. Viera also founded La Gaceta in 1920. However, his figure and contributions have been systematically overlooked for decades. In light of the discovery of previously unpublished official documents and visual materials about Viera, his family and the publications he founded, this article presents an initial investigation into his life and work, aiming to restore this Spanish entrepreneur to the prominent place he deserves in the history of the Spanish-language media in the United States.