(known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of 19 regional dailies and 32 radio stations across the country.

History

The Valparaíso edition of was founded by Pedro Félix Vicuña ( Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna's father) on September 12, 1827, and was later acquired by Agustín Edwards Ross in 1880. The Santiago edition was founded by Agustín Edwards Mac Clure, son of Edwards Ross, on June 1, 1900. In 1942 Edwards Mac Clure died and his son Agustín Edwards Budge took over as president. When Edwards Budge died in 1956, his son, Agustín Edwards Eastman, took control of the company. Edwards Eastman died in 2017, leaving the company in hands of his son Cristián Edwards del Río. El Mercurio SAP owns the Chilean afternoon daily newspaper '' La Segunda'', which published news with sensationalist and confrontational language that was considered inappropriate for .

CIA funding

received funds from the CIA in the early 1970s to undermine the Socialist government of Salvador Allende, acting as a mouthpiece for anti-Allende

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

. Declassified documents that detail US interventions in Chile revealed the paper's role, and the extent of the paper's cooperation with the CIA: Support reached to the highest levels of the US government. When the paper requested significant funds for covert support in September 1971, "...in a rare example of presidential micromanagement of a covert operation, Nixon personally authorized the $700,000—and more if necessary—in covert funds to ." (p. 93)

Role in 1973 coup d'état

The paper played "a significant role in setting the stage for the military coup" which took place on 11 September 1973, bringing General

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

to power. It mobilised opponents of President Salvador Allende and the gremialismo movement to be active in destabilisation from the street, while also advocating the

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

policies of the yet-to-come Chicago Boys.

1988 to the present

Former journalists of have been crucial in the creation of various new newspapers in Chile including '' Diario Financiero'' in 1988, '' El Líbero'' in 2014, and '' Ex-Ante'' in 2020.January 22, 2021
¿Quiénes están detrás del medio digital Ex-Ante?
''ilustrado.cl'' 's building in Valparaíso was set on fire by protesters in October 2019 during the 2019 Chilean protests sparked by rise in transportation cost.

References

*CIA article ''"Report of CIA Chilean Task Force Activities, 15 September to 3 November 1970"'' (November 18, 1970)
Report from CIA's 1970 Anti-Allende Task Force

External links