Pedro Xavier Molina Blandón[1] (born 1976) is a Nicaraguan political cartoonist who has worked for the news outlet Confidencial.

Pedro X. Molina
Molina in 2018
Born
Pedro Xavier Molina Blandón

1976 (age 47–48)
Estelí, Nicaragua
OccupationCaricarurist

Biography

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Molina was born in Estelí, Nicaragua, in 1976.[2] He was forced to flee Nicaragua when he was ten years old, escaping from the civil war in the 1980s, when Daniel Ortega was president.[3] He returned to the country afterwards, attending Polytechnic University of Nicaragua but spending most of his time in the library that received the major United States periodicals, and studying the political cartoons they published.[4] He published his first two cartoons in Barricada in 1995,[4] and has since become a cartoonist for the digital outlet Confidencial. In 2018 he received the Inter American Press Association Cartoonist Category Award.[5] Molina went into exile again in December of the same year, when Ortega's police killed a journalist, detained two others and ransacked the office of Confidencial, taking its press room.[6][7] Molina was also subject to personal threats which escalated at this time.[8]

Molina moved to Ithaca, New York, U.S., in August 2019 and became a resident artist of the Ithaca City of Asylum and a visiting scholar at Ithaca College. [9][10] In 2019 he received the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, awarded by the Columbia University of New York City, being the third Nicaraguan to receive it after Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal and Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, father and son, in 1977 and 2010 respectively.[11][12] The same year he was recognized by Americas Quarterly as one of its Top 5 Latin American political humorists.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Pedro Molina". www.editorialcartoonists.com. Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Pedro Molina: "Humor should always be challenging"". Confidencial. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b O’Boyle, Brendan (16 October 2019). "AQ Top 5 Political Satirists: Pedro X. Molina". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b Mogollón, Abixael (21 July 2019). "Pedro Molina: "Espero pronto dejar de dibujar a Daniel Ortega"". La Prensa (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  5. ^ "La SIP otorga el premio de caricatura a Pedro Molina". Instituto Quevedo de las Artes del Humor (in Spanish). 19 September 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  6. ^ "CxL se "chima" con caricatura de Manuel Guillén y lo acusa de incitar al odio". Artículo 66 (in Spanish). 30 April 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. ^ ""El humor le arde a este gobierno": caricaturistas nicaragüenses critican "Ley Mordaza"". 100% Noticias. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  8. ^ García, Cinthya Tórrez (25 February 2019). "El caricaturista Pedro Molina denuncia estar siendo amenazado por fanáticos del régimen Ortega-Murillo". La Prensa (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Q&A: Pedro X. Molina". www.ithaca.edu. Ithaca College. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  10. ^ Langlieb, Marin (29 September 2020). "Artist Seeks asylum, will work for freedom". Ithaca Times. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Caricaturista Pedro Molina gana premio María Moors Cabot 2019". Confidencial. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  12. ^ "El magnífico trabajo del caricaturista Pedro Molina". CONNECTAS. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
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