La Ilustración Guatemalteca

La Ilustración Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Illustration) was a biweekly cultural magazine that was published in Guatemala from 1 July 1896 to 15 June 1898. At a time when only 5% of the Guatemalan population could read, this magazine had extended articles aimed for the society elite and described numerous episodes of the later years of the presidency of general José María Reina Barrios, especially the economic crisis that originated when coffee – principal export from Guatemala at the time – and silver international prices plummeted. It also described the Exposición Centroamericana (Central American Exposition), an event that Reina Barrios organized to showcase the Interoceanic Railroad in Guatemala – at a time when the Panama Canal had not yet being built – and get Guatemala out of the crisis by means of international investors interested in move their products from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The magazine presented a good amount of pictures made by Alberto G. Valdeavellano, a photography pioneer from Guatemala.