Tribuno del Pueblo: The People’s Paper

Ada Marys Lorenzana

In two rows, a mixed-age group of ten people pose for a photo in a wooded area.
Tribuno del Pueblo Editorial Board and Friends c. 2024. Back row from left to right: Francisco Mendoza, Maria Elena Martinez, Cathleen Williams, Dave Ransom, Ada Marys Lorenzana, Salvador Sandoval. Front row from left to right: Gloria Meneses Sandoval, Luz Melissa Cortes, Laura Cortez Garcia, Nanzi Muro. Photo by Nanzi Muro.

Understanding the need for more Spanish publications, the Tribuno del Pueblo began publishing local stories from farmworkers, laborers, and immigrants in 1973. Voices that were regularly ignored in mainstream media were amplified in the Tribuno. The paper sought to be a tool for working class people in the United States that could be used to amplify their causes and raise awareness about the issues they faced in their communities. Issues raised in the publication included call to actions for protests, raising awareness about international conflicts, and framing Leninist theories into digestible concepts for working class people. Since the beginning, the Tribuno del Pueblo has largely been volunteer based and women-led.

An old newspaper in Spanish reads in bold letters “Tribuno Popular”. The top right corner shows a hammer and sickle encircled in words. There are two bold headlines and paragraphs are split into three columns.

1970s


The Tribuno del Pueblo was first established as the Spanish translation of the People’s Tribune but later became its sister publication and developed into its own independent paper focusing on different immigrant centered issues. Both publications stemmed from the Communist Labor Party (CLP) but quickly became their own entities. At its inception, the CLP was composed of members from the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit, Michigan, Colectivo del Pueblo in Los Angeles, California, and student organizers from M.E.Ch.A. in San Diego, California. The CLP connected young Chicanos, Black Power activists, and Anti War activists across the country and formed a vast network that has withstood the test of time.

Laura Cortez Garcia has been with the Tribuno del Pueblo since the 1970s and was the sole Editor of the paper from 2005 to 2023. Laura is currently a Co-Editor of the publication. Gloria Meneses Sandoval is an Editorial Board Member who has been active with the paper since the late 1970s. Both women were active in the Chicano Movement in California and have dedicated their lives to uplifting voices from the immigrant rights movements.

1980s


In the early 1980s, the Tribuno del Pueblo was involved in advocating for the release of wrongfully accused Ricardo Aldape Guerra from Houston. Aldape Guerra was sentenced to death for allegedly killing a police officer but a later trial demonstrated that the investigation was tainted by gross official misconduct. The Tribuno joined his family in Texas throughout the trial and published several newspapers to bring attention to his case. The Tribuno would also lead a campaign to advocate for Border Patrol to carry life saving equipment after several immigrant drownings in the San Joaquin Valley. During the 80s, the Tribuno would also undergo a name change from Tribuno Popular to Tribuno del Pueblo.

An old newspaper with a bold title reads “Tribuno del Pueblo” with a hammer and sickle next to it. On the left hand side, there is a thin column with the majority of the paper showing a man’s face in black and white. Below the image, in bold capital letters, reads “Defendiente”.
○ An old newspaper shows a text box on the left hand side with a bold title reading “Tribuno del Pueblo”. There are two bold, small headlines next to the text box in English and in Spanish. There is a bold headline in Spanish below along with text. On the right hand side, there is an image of people standing, holding protest signs in black and white. On the bottom left hand corner, there is a gray textbox with a a bold headline and a paragraph in English.

1990s


In the 1990s, the Tribuno underwent new leadership under editor Trinidad Rodriguez and transformed from a Spanish paper to a bilingual paper. Language was used as a tool to bring in new audiences but also as a way to recognize the multilingual reality of the Latino community. By publishing in both English and Spanish, the paper could not only bring awareness to community issues but simultaneously aid immigrant communities practice their English. As anti-communism sentiment rose, the paper would omit the communist symbol from its header so as to not scare away audiences.

2000s


The Tribuno del Pueblo would become inactive in the late 1990s and early 2000s until it was brought back by the board to fight against the anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill in 2005. The rising immigrant rights movement energized the paper once again and was distributed to aid the call for citizenship for all. With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the 2010s, the Tribuno connected the stories of violence against Black people in the U.S. to the violence against poor and indigenous people in Mexico. By discussing similarities between two groups, the paper was able to inspire international solidarity across borders.

○ A colorful newspaper shows a small logo on the top left corner with a phoenix rising. The title of the paper is in thin, blue letters that read Tribuno del Pueblo. There are two images on the paper with the top one showing a drawing. The drawing has a blue background with letters in green, black, red, and light blue that reads “Vivos los llevaron, vivos los queremos. Solidaridad con los 43 estudiantes desap-”. On the right side of the drawing there are two flags showing the Mexican flag and Uruguayan flag. The image below shows a group of people at night, kneeling, and with their hands up. A black sign with white letters reads “We Are A Great Force”. There is a black textbox with white letters showing two headlines, one in Spanish and one in English.

TODAY

Today the Tribuno del Pueblo has transformed into a digital publication with an intergenerational board based in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Merced, California. The Tribuno del Pueblo and People’s Tribune remain sister publications and were still publishing physical newspapers up until 2020, when the papers were forced to become digital due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the publications operate independently of each other, they remain connected by a tight knit network and operate with the belief that the publications should work to the benefit of working class people. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA), composed of former CLP members, is now working on archiving all things related to the CLP, the People’s Tribune, and Tribuno del Pueblo. You can visit the Tribuno del Pueblo at tribunodelpueblo.org

○ People gather in a grassy field. The background shows multiple groups of people standing and sitting down. The foreground shows a male sitting down, wearing a Palestinian keffiyah and jeans, and holding a white sign with black letters that reads “La Lucha Obrera No Tiene Fronteras” translating to “The Worker’s Struggles Know No Borders”. To the right of him there is a male photographer kneeling and pointing a video camera at the protestor.
Chicago, IL. August 2024. A protester wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh holds a protest sign in Union Park, near the Democratic National Convention. The sign reads “La Lucha Obrera No Tiene Fronteras” translating to “The Worker’s Struggles Know No Borders”. Photo by Francisco Mendoza.
A woman stands in the center wearing a black dress with colorful embroidery and a white sash. In red letters, the white sash reads “Chicago is La Villita”. She is holding a protest sign in her right hand that shows a man’s face along with two children next to him. The sign reads “Ice Lies Justice for Silverio”. In the background, a group of people are walking down the street holding U.S. and Mexican flags.
Chicago, IL. September 2025. A woman walks down 26th street in the Little Village neighborhood as part of the Mexican Independence Day Parade. Silverio Villegas González was shot and killed by an I.C.E. agent just a few days before.
This image shows the back of protesters' heads in the foreground with some holding red protest signs. A line of men in army uniforms and plastic shields stand in front of a gray building with tall windows.
Los Angeles, California. The California National Guard protecting a federal building in downtown Los Angeles as people gather to protest the escalating I.C.E. raids across the city.
The image shows a blue sky with four armed officers in army uniform, standing on top of a brick building with boarded up windows. The bottom of the image shows the back of protestors heads with one woman holding a cardboard protest sign in her left hand that reads “Due process for all”. A flag pole waving the U.S. flag cuts through the center of the image.
Chicago, IL. September 2025. Protestors outside of Broadview Detention Center where I.C.E can be seen armed and overlooking protestors on the rooftop. Photo by Francisco Mendoza.
A group of twelve men, women, and children stand in front of a mural depicting a green landscape, the Mexican Flag on the middle left and the U.S. flag on the middle right. The top of the mural reads “Senda de Vida”. On the left, there is a thin, white wall with the words “Path to Life” painted in red and outlined in blue. There is a blue fence to the left with a group of men and a little boy standing. On the right side of the image, there is a white wall with a group of people sitting on the ground. People are wearing baseball caps, tank tops, tshirts, and shorts.
Reynosa, Mexico. July 2022. Senda de Vida is a shelter for migrants that’s run strictly by donations and no aid from the Mexican Government. Photo by Nanzi Muro.

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