La revista LIBRE, víctima del “Caso Padilla”

Abstract

The massive presence of Latin American intellectuals in the Gallic capital was an intriguing phenomenon. Paris turned into a place for free expression, a place for political vindication of many intellectuals that had chosen exile to fight for their ideals. Many Latin American –and, to a lesser degree, Spanish– intellectuals gained global notoriety. The magazine LIBRE, published for a relatively short time in the seventies, was born as mouthpiece for a politically heterogeneous group of intellectuals. In this paper, I will shed some light on the divergences and clashes among them, mostly around the affair of the Cuban poet Padilla, imprisoned by the regime. Soon they divided into two openly opposed groups. The great figures of the so-called Latin American Boom form part of the list of writers that contributed to the magazine: Julio Cortázar, Lezama Lima, Mario Vargas Llosa, García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, Brice Echenique, or the Spaniards Luis and Juan Goytisolo, are just some examples of the great number of intellectuals exiled in Paris. Most, if not all of them took part in the debate around the Padilla affair.