El Céfiro weekly was a short-lived publication, whose writer and journalist Sofía Estévez y Valdés was one of its main architects. According to the investigations carried out by the journalist and researcher Eduardo Labrada, since its creation in 1866, said newspaper became one of the most important of its type in those years.
It was founded by Francisco and Emilio Peyrellade in collaboration with Rafael García Álvarez; although, according to researcher Luis Marcelino Gómez, it was conceived as a project and initially directed by prominent feminist journalists Sofía Estévez and Domitila García -Rafael’s daughter.
The researcher himself explains that the first number appears specifically in the month of October. It has a short duration of only two years later, as it disappears at the beginning of the Great War.
The scholar alleges that the oldest copy found is dated April 19th, 1868, which has the subtitle: “Literary, fashion, customs and semi-official newspaper of the Puerto Príncipe Society dedicated to its members.”
Interesting jobs
In it, prose works addressed to women, narratives, were published under the signature of Juana de P., Luisa Jiménez, Elvira, Rufina, La Guayabera, La Yumurina, among others.
For her part, Sofía publishes there, in the form of serials, her novels Alberto the troubadour and Twelve years later; although in some of the sources consulted only the first one appears referenced.
Work of Sofía Estévez in El Céfiro
Luis Marcelino states that Domitila García left the newspaper after two months of creation, which contradicts what was reported by other sources that extend her time at the helm of the weekly and give it greater prominence, and according to the bibliography consulted, her father, Rafael García Álvarez, is one of the co-owners.
However, the exposed criteria are supported on the basis that through the Diario de la Marina corresponding to February 15th, 1867, it is known that it was separated from the early number 13, an issue that deserves a deepening, since it declares that it was due ” to causes beyond their control.”
Sofía would be in charge of writing it together with other collaborators, until her disappearance. The success of her essays transcended the borders of the Island.
Another season of publication?
The research carried out by Dr. C Kezia Zabrina Henry Knight in the Rare and Valuable Funds Room of the Julio Antonio Mella de Camagüey Provincial Library showed that it is very probable that it would continue with its publication in a second stage -which was normal in the time-, since there is a copy of April 25th, 1886 in said Room.
Conclusions
Although certain contradictions can be seen in the consulted bibliography, the role played by Sofía Estévez and Valdés in El Céfiro weekly is evident; well, the writer and journalist became one of the main architects of it, as a contributor and protagonist.
References:
– Gómez, Luis Marcelino. La mujer en defensa de la mujer: voces femeninas del romanticismo cubano (Poesía y cuento). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 55. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/edt/55.
– Henry Knight, Kezia Zabrina. El Céfiro, un periódico principeño, dirigido por dos mujeres. www.ohcamaguey.cu.
– Labrada Rodríguez, Eduardo (1987). La prensa camagüeyana del siglo XIX. Santiago de Cuba, Editorial Oriente.
– Marrero, J (2018). Dos siglos de periodismo en Cuba. Momentos, hechos y rostros. Editorial Pablo de la Torriente Brau.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
