An electoral newspaper : El 2 de abril (1880)

Abstract

The article analyzes the newspaper El 2 de Abril published in 1880 to promote the candidacy of Carlos Pacheco for governor of Puebla. The objective of this research is to show that this weekly was erected as part of the electoral strategy used by Porfirio Díaz in which it was essential to obtain the vote from remembering the battle of April 2, 1867 in which Pacheco lost an arm and a leg, but contributed to defeat the government of Maximilian of Habsburg. That heroic deed generated a patriotic symbol that Díaz wielded in both Pacheco’s and Manuel González cases and during the electoral processes in which he was re-elected for several four-year terms. The contribution of this research compared to the specialized studies in the electoral press, which are included here, is that it uses the newspapers as a source to document the life of that suffragist weekly of fleeting existence of which Little is know and provides data of its reception among the newspaper in favor of Díaz and those opposed to his government. At the same time, it helps to explain the reason that originated its protection in the Collection of Mexican Miscellany of the Reserved Found of the National Newspaper Library of Mexico.