Cecilio Acosta: freedom of printing and the debate with his contemporaries

Abstract

Freedom of the press was a matter of repeated and thorough debate in the first three decades of Republican Venezuela. Discussions were very frequent in legislative chambers, on the street, and in intellectual circles. The Venezuelan writer, humanist, and journalist Cecilio Acosta was also engaged in the debates of his contemporaries about the scope and restrictions of press freedom in those turbulent times of national life. This article seeks to confront Acosta’s ideas with those of his time, supporters, and opponents.