(known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. 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 Pedro Félix Vicuña Aguirre (February 21, 1805, Santiago, Chile – May 24, 1874, Santiago) was a Chilean journalist and one of the founders in 1827 of the newspaper '' El Mercurio de Valparaíso'', the oldest existing newspaper in Spanish la ...

(

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 – November 1, 1897) was a Chilean businessman and politician. Edwards served as the President of the Senate of Chile from 1893 through 1895. He was the son of Agustín Edwards Ossandón and Juana 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 ...

. 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 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 (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

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 Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger, or at its affiliat ...

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 The term ''ex-ante'' (sometimes written ''ex ante'' or ''exante'') is a phrase meaning "before the event". 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), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

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