(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 Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

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

edition of was founded by Pedro Félix Vicuña (

Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (August 25, 1831 – January 25, 1886) was a Chilean writer, journalist, historian and politician. Vicuña Mackenna was of Irish and Basque descent. Biography Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna was born in Santiago, the ...

's father) on September 12, 1827, and was later acquired by

Agustín Edwards Ross Agustín Edwards Ross (February 17, 1852, Valparaíso – November 1, 1897) was 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 Antarct ...

in 1880. The Santiago edition was founded by

Agustín Edwards Mac Clure Agustín is a Spanish given name and sometimes a surname. It is related to Augustín. People with the name include: Given name * Agustín Adorni (born 1990), Argentine footballer * Agustín Allione (born 1994), Argentine footballer * Ag ...

, son of Edwards Ross, on June 1, 1900. In 1942 Edwards Mac Clure died and his son

Agustín Edwards Budge Agustín is a Spanish given name and sometimes a surname. It is related to Augustín. People with the name include: Given name * Agustín Adorni (born 1990), Argentine footballer * Agustín Allione (born 1994), Argentine footballer * Agu ...

took over as president. When Edwards Budge died in 1956, his son,

Agustín Edwards Eastman Agustín Iván Edmundo Edwards Eastman (24 November 1927 – 24 April 2017) was a Chilean newspaper publisher, and one of the richest people in Chile. He inherited his family's newspaper company El Mercurio SAP, which publishes Chile's leading n ...

, 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 () is a Chilean afternoon daily newspaper, owned by El Mercurio SAP. Their tendency is conservative, is the first Chilean newspaper to disclose information that occurred in the morning because it is evening. Its time distribution is from 14:00 ...

'', which published news with sensationalist and confrontational language that was considered inappropriate for .

CIA funding

received funds from the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

in the early 1970s to undermine the Socialist government of

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

, 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 Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

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 A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

" 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

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 The Chicago Boys were a group of Chilean economists prominent around the 1970s and 1980s, the majority of whom were educated at the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago under Larry Sjaastad, Milton Friedman, and Arnold Harberger, ...

1988 to the present

Former journalists of have been crucial in the creation of various new newspapers in Chile including ''

Diario Financiero ''Diario Financiero'' is a Chilean economic newspaper founded by a group of journalists from the Economy and Business Corps of ''El Mercurio'' on October 25, 1988. It is currently controlled by the Claro Group. The tabloid has been using the oran ...

'' in 1988, ''

El Líbero El Líbero is a Chilean online newspaper formed in 2014. Its founders include journalist and former editor of ''Investigation and Politics'' of '' El Mercurio'' Eduardo Sepúlveda, the commercial engineer Carlos Kubick O., José Antonio Guzmán ...

'' in 2014, and ''

Ex-Ante The term (sometimes written or ) is a New Latin phrase meaning "before the event". In economics, ''ex-ante'' or notional demand refers to the desire for goods and services that is not backed by the ability to pay for those goods and servic ...

'' 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 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

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