Pedro Xavier Molina Blandón (born 1976) is a Nicaraguan

political cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curre ...

who has worked for the news outlet ''

Confidencial ''Confidencial'' is a Nicaraguan weekly newspaper in Nicaragua with offices in the capital Managua. It was founded in 1996 by Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, Chamorro is the former director of the Sandinista National Liberation Front newspaper ...

''. Molina was born in

Estelí Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and municipality within the Estelí department. It is the 3rd largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its municipality, at 83%, with an urban population of ...

, Nicaragua, in 1976. He was forced to flee Nicaragua when he was ten years old, escaping from the civil war in the 1980s, when

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...

was president. He returned to the country afterwards, attending

Polytechnic University of Nicaragua The Polytechnic University of Nicaragua ( es, Universidad Politecnica de Nicaragua, UPOLI) is a university in Managua, Nicaragua. It was founded in 1967. Organization The university has six schools: * School of Administration, Commerce and Finan ...

but spending most of his time in the library that received the major United States periodicals, and studying the political cartoons they published. He published his first two cartoons in ''Barricada'' in 1995, and has since become a cartoonist for the digital outlet ''

''. In 2018 he received the

Inter American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,300 ...

Cartoonist Category Award. 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. Molina was also subject to personal threats which escalated at this time. Molina moved to

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

, U.S., in August 2019 and became a resident artist of the Ithaca City of Asylum and a visiting scholar at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

. In 2019 he received the

Maria Moors Cabot Prize The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest international awards in the field of journalism. They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant co ...

, awarded by the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, being the third Nicaraguan to receive it after

Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal (23 September 1924 – 10 January 1978) was a Nicaraguan journalist and publisher. He was the editor of ''La Prensa'', the only significant opposition newspaper to the long rule of the Somoza family. He is a 19 ...

and

Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios (born ) is a Nicaraguan independent investigative journalist. He is the founder and editor of Confidencial, a news website and weekly publication combining investigative journalism and analyses of current affair ...

, father and son, in 1977 and 2010 respectively. The same year he was recognized by ''

Americas Quarterly ''Americas Quarterly (AQ)'' is a publication dedicated to politics, business and culture in the Americas. Distribution ''AQ'' has an established relationship with NTN24, an online news channel from Colombia with three million viewers, to broadca ...

'' as one of its Top 5 Latin American political humorists.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Molina, Pedro Nicaraguan artists Caricaturists Editorial cartoonists Living people 1976 births People from Estelí Department