“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

A series of defamation actions between Manuel Tristani and José Parejas regarding
several articles published in two competing local newspapers provides an excellent of
example of how these local, public conflicts over reputation intertwined with factional
politics. 79 The conflict originated when Tristani printed allegations that Parejas had
defrauded a number of vecinos in his newspaper El Comercio del Salto. 80 The article further
implied that Parejas, a colorado, had willfully ignored orders by local officials to appear in
court. Parejas sued Tristani for defamation. Appearing before the jury, Tristani turned the
tables on Parejas. He first asked for the jury’s “indulgence because I am new and foreign
here in Salto, a city in which I came to establish myself on account of the cultured and well-
educated fame with which the magnanimous Oriental Republic of Uruguay has distinguished
itself.” 81 Tristani continued that since his arrival in the town to set up a newspaper, “he had
found himself barbarously and unjustly insulted by the calumnious José Parejas” in the pages
of El Salteño. 82 Parejas was the editor of the rival paper. Despite Parejas’ misconduct,
however, Tristani made clear that he did not wish to continue a dispute between vecinos that
might serve only to inflame factional tensions. He agreed to retract his article even though
he claimed it was accurate. In doing so, he positioned himself as a voice of moderation and
order.
The retraction did not end the conflict between the two editors. Rather, Parejas used
the proceeding to publish a response attacking Tristani’s character in El Salteño. Tristani
represented a tempting target for Salto’s colorados for a variety of reasons. As an initial
79
D. Manuel R. Tristani c. D. José Parejas por publicación de injurias en prensa, AGN-SJ. Salto.
Penales, No. 90 (1862).
80
D. José Parejas c. D. Manuel R. Tristani por retractación, AGN-SJ. Salto. Penales, No. 74
(1862).
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
186