elDiario.es Canarias On 23 August 2026, Nicolás Mingorance as well as Antonio Calero in 1939 aboard the vessel organised by Pablo Neruda organised Winnipeg from France to Chile. The article also profiles the “alzado” from La Palma Domingo Calero, who evaded capture in the first days of the military coup and later fled.
The publication cites family archives, letters and a recent documentary film as sources. A key passage is a letter from Mingorance dated 1983, in which he describes his decision to flee: nine months after crossing the border into France, he set off “on the Winnipeg to Chile”. The film series “Canarias: 50 años tras la oscuridad” was screened in Las Palmas in July and provides a timely occasion for revisiting the subject.
Historical context: According to consistent historical accounts, the Winnipeg left the French port of Pauillac in early August 1939 and reached Valparaísoin early September. Around 2,200 Spanish Republicans found refuge in Chile in this way. Pablo Neruda’s role in organising the voyage and the freighter’s route are extensively documented.
The research describes Mingorance as a poet, journalist and former councillor from Santa Cruz de Tenerife . He was imprisoned under Franco, including at Villa Cisneros, and is associated with the spectacular escape of Republicans aboard the ship Viera y Clavijo. His family has preserved letters and documents that corroborate his subsequent journey into exile.
The article presents a nuanced account of the Calero family: Domingo Calero is described as a local resister (“alzado”) from La Palma. According to family accounts, however, it was Antonio Calero who travelled to Chile aboard the Winnipeg in 1939. The publication thus connects individual biographies from different periods of repression with the collective experience of exile.
The article forms part of current remembrance work in the Canary Islands, bringing together film projects, exhibitions and family archives. It distinguishes documented facts—the Winnipeg’s departure and arrival, recorded passenger numbers and dated letters—from recollections attributed to family accounts. This provides a precise local perspective on a transnational chapter of Spanish history without going beyond the established evidence.
Editor: Celestina Fuentes (Article created with AI assistance).