Francisca Raquel Navas Gardela, better known as Paca Navas (1883–1971), was a Honduran journalist, writer and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. She founded the first feminist journal in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and was a member of the first suffragette organization. She and her husband spent most of their lives in exile because of their liberal leanings. Her most productive writing period was during her

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

n exile from 1945 to 1951.

Biography

Francisca Raquel Navas Gardela better known as Paca Navas was born on March 23, 1883, in Juticalpa, Olancho,

to José María Navas and Francisca Gardela de Navas. In 1900, she married the attorney, intellectual and journalist Adolfo Miralda. Her husband was involved in politics and strongly supported the liberal opposition in his writings, resulting in the family's persecution by the government. Navas' friend and fellow writer Ramón Amaya Amador extended the offer to her to take refuge in

La Ceiba La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida (department), Atlántida, and a port city on the northern Caribbean coast in Honduras. It forms part of the southeastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras. With ...

and to publish the newspaper ''Costa Norte''. Thus, they relocated to

, where they endured her husband's long political exile. In 1935 to help make ends meet, Navas founded a weekly newspaper ''La voz de Atlántida'', which was a publication focused on Pan-American

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

, literature and science. It was considered the first feminist journal in

, covering topics such as aging,

domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

, rape, homeless youth, and the subordination of women. On February 2, 1946, a group of suffragettes organized la Sociedad Femenina Panamericana with president Olimpia Varela y Varela and intellectuals Lucila Gamero de Medina, Argentina Díaz Lozano and Navas. On March 5, 1947, they founded the Comité Femenino Hondureño (affiliated with the Inter-American Commission of Women) with the goal of obtaining political rights for women. They published a magazine, ''Mujer Americana'', which was the third feminist journal of the country, after Navas' ''Atlántida'', and a journal named ''Atenea'' by Cristina Hernández de Gomez––begun in

El Progreso El Progreso () is a city, with a population of 120,600 (2023 calculation), and a municipality located in the Honduran Departments of Honduras, department of Yoro (department), Yoro. Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport of San Pedro Su ...

in 1944."Villars (2001)", pp 312–313 In 1947 Navas represented the Unión Democrática Femenina Hondureña at the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

, Guatemala. There she introduced the theme of

Political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s and exiles of Latin America to the assembly and denounced the forced political exile of 100 Hondurans during the 14 years of the dictatorship of Tiburcio Carías Andino."Villars (2001)", pp 314 At the time of the conference, Navas, having been exiled herself, was living in

under the protection of the President Juan José Arévalo. She lived in

from 1945 to 1951. Ramón Amaya Amador sought refuge with her in Guatemala. The Guatemalan sojourn marked her most productive writing period, in part because she could publish her work. In 1947, Navas published a book of poems, ''Ritmos criollos'' and followed that with her novel ''Barro'' in 1951. ''Barro'' had actually been written in 1940, but was barred from publication in

. ''Barro'' was set in a newly established workers' town for fruit pickers. It addressed the distress that accompanied their relocation from their traditional villages for better working opportunities and looked at the exploitation of the national territory by foreigners. She died on July 11, 1971, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington while visiting her daughter.

Selected works

* ''Ritmos criollos'' (1947) * ''Barro'' (1951) * ''Mar de fondo'' * ''Campiña olanchana'' * ''Rutas de silencio'' * ''Cámara obscura'' * ''Atraídos''

Barro (1951)

One of the best examples of the Criollismo literary movement in

and written during the 1940s. However, it was not able to be published until 1951 in

during the presidency of Juan José Arévalo,

's first democratically elected president.

Atraídos

This novel has 17 sections, the two first ones being an introduction and a few words to the reader. The remaining fifteen are suggestive titles regarding different historical moments. In the first chapter, titled 'Oro Verde' (Green Gold), it describes the coast of

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

, the landscape, and the lifestyle of Atlantians, highlighting the banana plantations. It is here where Remigio Hernández, an old, widowed man that moves to the coast with his son Leandro to find a better life.

Note

José González is the author of two scholarly works on the history Honduran literature as he references in the blog. The information in his blog, per his acknowledgment corrects an incorrect date in the printed books for Navas' birth. The books are: *González, José. ''Cronología de la literatura Hondureña del siglo XX''. Honduras: Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia (2008) (in Spanish) (

*González, José. ''Diccionario de literatos hondureños'' Honduras: Editorial Guaymuras (2004) (reprint 2010) (in Spanish) (

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navas, Paca 1883 births 1971 deaths Honduran journalists Honduran feminists Honduran suffragists Honduran women activists Honduran novelists 20th-century Honduran poets People from Olancho Department 20th-century novelists Honduran women journalists Honduran women novelists Honduran women poets 20th-century Honduran women writers 20th-century journalists