In the same year that the branch was dedicated, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses decided that The Watchtower and Awake! should be printed locally. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses were not at that time legally recognized as a religion in Argentina, Asociación Cultural Rioplatense (River Plate Cultural Association) was formed in December 1974 to provide a legal entity that could import machinery for printing. A press came from France, a paper cutter from Germany, and a stitcher from the United States. All were gifts.

The pressroom workers, however, soon learned that it is one thing to have the machines but quite another to operate them. Although many difficulties had to be overcome, what joy they had when The Watchtower of April 15, 1975, rolled off the first web offset press ever to be used by the Watch Tower Society anywhere in the world! This was a milestone in the history of the printing done by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

[Picture on page 161]

The first web offset press used by Jehovah’s Witnesses