Florida Senate - 2022 (NP) SR 2000
By Senator Rouson
19-03919-22 20222000__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution honoring La Gaceta, one of the oldest
3 minority-owned and -focused newspapers, and the only
4 trilingual newspaper in the United States, for 100
5 years of continued service to Florida’s Latino
6 community.
7
8 WHEREAS, La Gaceta, the Spanish-language daily newspaper,
9 was founded by Victoriano Manteiga, who immigrated in 1913 from
10 Cuba to West Tampa to accept a job in the Morgan Cigar Factory
11 reading books and newspapers aloud to the torcedores, or cigar
12 rollers, while they worked, and
13 WHEREAS, in 1922, Victoriano Manteiga discussed his idea of
14 publishing a Spanish-language newspaper with Dr. Jose Avellanal,
15 an admired doctor and humanitarian, who contacted the Mascunana
16 Printers, and their combined efforts yielded the first issue of
17 La Gaceta, published on May 22, 1922, which went on to be
18 published 6 days per week in Ybor City, with wire service from
19 Cuba and Spain, and
20 WHEREAS, La Gaceta was born from the need to educate,
21 inform, and entertain the Latino community living and working in
22 Ybor City and West Tampa, filling a void created by the Anglo
23 owned press which, at the time, mostly ignored immigrants or
24 reported negatively about their activities, and
25 WHEREAS, the newspaper championed causes important to
26 Florida’s Latino community, such as the rights of laborers,
27 access to education and recreation, gaining a voice in politics,
28 supporting the Republic in the Spanish Civil War, and an
29 independent Cuba free from corruption, and
30 WHEREAS, the newspaper survived the Great Depression and
31 the rationing of lead and newsprint in World War II by the
32 perseverance of the Manteiga family and support of the
33 community, and
34 WHEREAS, at the outbreak of World War II, Victoriano
35 Manteiga’s son, Roland, who worked at La Gaceta, volunteered to
36 serve in the United States Army and was shipped out with many
37 Tampa Latinos to the Pacific Theatre, leaving Victoriano
38 Manteiga to struggle with publishing the newspaper in his son’s
39 absence, and
40 WHEREAS, after the war, La Gaceta’s readership and
41 advertising suffered due to the collapse of the cigar industry
42 in Tampa and the migration of the Latino community to the
43 suburbs, with opportunities for Latinos and the descendants of
44 the original immigrants from Spain, Cuba, and Italy more
45 dependent on the English language than Spanish, and
46 WHEREAS, to adjust to these changes, La Gaceta became a
47 weekly paper in 1953, and in 1954, English-language and Italian
48 language articles began to appear in its pages, making it a
49 trilingual publication, and
50 WHEREAS, on June 11, 1954, Roland Manteiga began writing
51 his weekly political gossip column, “As We Heard It,” which
52 became a must-read for inside information in government and
53 politics and served as a voice for Tampa’s Hispanic community
54 for more than 40 years, and
55 WHEREAS, in the 1960s, Ybor City hit a low point due to the
56 destruction of the community by urban renewal and the
57 construction of the interstates in Tampa, leaving the Latin
58 Quarter a shadow of itself, although La Gaceta remained,
59 documenting the area’s history and demise and fighting for its
60 future, and
61 WHEREAS, with Roland Manteiga at the helm, La Gaceta was
62 instrumental in bringing Hillsborough Community College, the
63 Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Environmental
64 Protection Commission to Ybor City, all of which help keep it
65 alive, and
66 WHEREAS, Roland Manteiga became an influencer for those
67 seeking to be elected to office, with many national, state, and
68 local leaders paying him visits, and with son Patrick Manteiga
69 by his side starting in 1983, he used this and La Gaceta’s
70 influence to promote Ybor City’s renaissance and to help save
71 historic buildings that housed the mutual aid societies, Circulo
72 Cubano, Centro Asturiano, and L’Unione Italiana, and
73 WHEREAS, after Roland Manteiga’s passing on September 25,
74 1998, his son, Patrick Manteiga, took over as publisher and
75 today continues the tradition of his father’s “As We Heard It”
76 column and of the newspaper as a voice of the Latino community
77 while keeping an eye on the powers that be, and
78 WHEREAS, now for more than a century, La Gaceta, one of the
79 oldest minority-owned and -focused newspapers, and the only
80 trilingual newspaper, in the United States, continues to serve
81 Citrus, Hillsborough, Hernando, Manatee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco,
82 Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota Counties, NOW, THEREFORE,
83
84 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
85
86 That the Florida Senate honors La Gaceta newspaper for 100
87 years of continued service to Florida’s Latino community.