El Perico was founded in 1999 as a direct mail monthly newspaper by Carlos Alvarez, John Barrientos, and Marcos Mora (ABM Enterprises), to serve Omaha's fast-growing Latino community with news and advertising information. In 2002 El Perico was a weekly, free pick-up newspaper and in 2004 El Perico became part of the Pioneer Publishing family, along with The Reader. El Perico's sister publication is Directorio Latino, an annual community guide and business directory. .