La Opinión (Argentina)
Encyclopedia
La Opinión was an Argentine
newspaper
, founded by the journalist Jacobo Timerman
in 1971. Its ideology was broadly centrist, inspired partly by the Paris
daily Le Monde
.
, had previously launched numerous successful news publications in Argentina, notably the Primera Plana and Confirmado news magazines. Billed as "the news daily for the great minority" in a initial publicity campaign written by a friend of Timerman, author Pedro Orgambide, La Opinión adopted an editorial line described by Timerman as "rightist economically, centrist politically, and leftist culturally."
Its editorial board was led by Timerman, Julio Algañaraz, Mario Diament, Horacio Verbitsky
, and Juan Carlos Algañaraz. Its pages would subsequently include bylines by Juan Gelman
, Miguel Bonasso, Carlos Ulanovsky, Tomás Eloy Martínez
, Ernesto Sabato
, Pompeyo Camps, Osvaldo Soriano
, Ricardo Halac, Enrique Raab, Roberto Cossa
, Victoria Walsh, María Esther Giglio, Raúl Vera Ocampo, Gerardo Fernández, José Agustín Mahieu, Hugo Gambini, Luis Aubele, Bernardo Verbitsky
, and other noted figures in Argentine journalism and the arts. Instead of photos, the paper illustrated articles with caricatures by Hermenegildo Sábat
. La Opinión grew rapidly, and by 1974, averaged a daily circulation of 150,000, becoming Buenos Aires' fourth-largest news daily.
. Graiver, a real estate developer, became the investment banker for the Montoneros
guerrilla group. He reportedly laundered
us$17 million in funds obtained by the Montoneros from their frequent kidnapping
s in a variety of interests in both Argentina and overseas, including La Opinión. Graiver died in an aviation crash on August 7, 1976.
La Opinión devoted extensive coverage to Third World
issues, as well as to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Timerman and other La Opinón staff had already suffered death threats by the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance as early as 1973. The paper was supportive of the Marxist government of President Salvador Allende
in neighboring Chile
, and was labeled "Enemy Number One" by the subsequent Chilean dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet
. The publication was, however, generally supportive of the March 1976 coup that toppled President Isabel Perón in Argentina, describing the nation (referring to left-wing violence) as "helpless before the slaughter."
as mounting evidence of the Dirty War
appeared. A number of its staff would be abducted by the regime throughout 1976, and Timerman responded to these events (as well as to death threats) with critical editorials. The paper also published correspondence between Timerman and Congressman Donald M. Fraser
of Minnesota
in which the publisher offered to testify in the United States Congress
regarding the Dirty War. The daily's opposition to the dictatorship intensified, and on January 30, 1977, its circulation was confiscated, as well as the corresponding color magazine insert, on the charge of "offending the Argentine government and military."
The technical manager of La Opinón, Edgardo Sajón, was abducted on April 1, and La Opinión placed under Federal intervention
. Urged to leave the country by friends and family, Timerman refused, and on April 15, he was abducted by a paramilitary group under the orders of Buenos Aires Province Police Chief Ramón Camps
; the publishing house was expropriated in November. Timerman was kept in detention for a period of two and a half years, and was subjected to torture during the early days of his detention; he was ultimately released in September 1979, and sought exile in Israel
. La Opinión remained in print under military ownership until its last remaining assets were sold at auction in December 1980.
He returned to Argentina in January 1984, and edited La Razón
until 1987. Timerman died in 1999.
from 2008 onward. David Griaver's widow, Lidia Papaleo, testified in 2010 to having been intimidated by Clarín Group
executive Héctor Magnetto
, and subsequently tortured by the police, to forfeit further payment in 1977 for her inherited shares in La Opinión and the nation's leading newsprint
maker, Papel Prensa
. She later recanted her testimony, affirming simply that she had been pressured to sell her shares, though never under duress.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, founded by the journalist Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman was an Argentine publisher, journalist, and author who was persecuted and honored for confronting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War...
in 1971. Its ideology was broadly centrist, inspired partly by the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
daily Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
.
Development
Timerman, an Argentine Jewish immigrant from UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, had previously launched numerous successful news publications in Argentina, notably the Primera Plana and Confirmado news magazines. Billed as "the news daily for the great minority" in a initial publicity campaign written by a friend of Timerman, author Pedro Orgambide, La Opinión adopted an editorial line described by Timerman as "rightist economically, centrist politically, and leftist culturally."
Its editorial board was led by Timerman, Julio Algañaraz, Mario Diament, Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky is a prominent Argentine investigative journalist and author. He writes for the left-leaning Argentine newspaper Página/12 and heads up the Center for Legal and Social Studies , an Argentine human-rights organization.He is also a member of the Directive Board of Human Rights...
, and Juan Carlos Algañaraz. Its pages would subsequently include bylines by Juan Gelman
Juan Gelman
Juan Gelman is an Argentine poet. He has published more than twenty books of poetry since 1956. He won the Cervantes Prize in 2007, the most important in Spanish literature...
, Miguel Bonasso, Carlos Ulanovsky, Tomás Eloy Martínez
Tomás Eloy Martínez
Tomás Eloy Martínez was an Argentine journalist and writer.-Life and work:Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Martínez obtained a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the University of Tucumán, and an MA at the University of Paris...
, Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato , was an Argentine writer, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America"...
, Pompeyo Camps, Osvaldo Soriano
Osvaldo Soriano
Osvaldo Soriano, Journalist and writer. Born January 6, 1943 in Mar del Plata, Argentina – died on January 29, 1997 in Buenos Aires.-Biography:...
, Ricardo Halac, Enrique Raab, Roberto Cossa
Roberto Cossa
Roberto Cossa is a prominent Argentine playwright and theatre director.-Life and work:Roberto Cossa was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in the quiet residential borough of Villa del Parque. He first performed in theatre at the age of 17 and, in 1957, he and friends founded the San...
, Victoria Walsh, María Esther Giglio, Raúl Vera Ocampo, Gerardo Fernández, José Agustín Mahieu, Hugo Gambini, Luis Aubele, Bernardo Verbitsky
Bernardo Verbitsky
Bernardo Verbitsky was an Argentine writer and journalist, and father of Horacio Verbitsky.Verbitsky was a screenwriter, a journalist from Noticias Gráficas, and a member of Academia Porteña del Lunfardo...
, and other noted figures in Argentine journalism and the arts. Instead of photos, the paper illustrated articles with caricatures by Hermenegildo Sábat
Hermenegildo Sábat
-Early career in journalism:Hermenegildo Sábat was born in the oceanfront Pocitos section of Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1933. Named after a grandparent who had been a noted local artist in his day, Hermenegildo was known as "Menchi," from early childhood...
. La Opinión grew rapidly, and by 1974, averaged a daily circulation of 150,000, becoming Buenos Aires' fourth-largest news daily.
Silent partner
Planning to purchase a larger printing plant, Timerman sold a 45% stake in 1974 to David GraiverDavid Graiver
David Graiver was an Argentine businessman and banker whose business interests would become the focus of investigations and intrigue during his short life, as well as since his death.-Early life and career:...
. Graiver, a real estate developer, became the investment banker for the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
guerrilla group. He reportedly laundered
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
us$17 million in funds obtained by the Montoneros from their frequent kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
s in a variety of interests in both Argentina and overseas, including La Opinión. Graiver died in an aviation crash on August 7, 1976.
La Opinión devoted extensive coverage to Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
issues, as well as to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Timerman and other La Opinón staff had already suffered death threats by the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance as early as 1973. The paper was supportive of the Marxist government of President Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
in neighboring Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, and was labeled "Enemy Number One" by the subsequent Chilean dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
. The publication was, however, generally supportive of the March 1976 coup that toppled President Isabel Perón in Argentina, describing the nation (referring to left-wing violence) as "helpless before the slaughter."
Suppression
The paper gradually distanced itself from the dictatorshipNational Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
as mounting evidence of the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
appeared. A number of its staff would be abducted by the regime throughout 1976, and Timerman responded to these events (as well as to death threats) with critical editorials. The paper also published correspondence between Timerman and Congressman Donald M. Fraser
Donald M. Fraser
Donald MacKay Fraser is an American politician from Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Early life:Donald Fraser played a critical role in making human rights an important part of U.S. policy. Fraser was born on 20 February 1924 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Everett and Lois Fraser. His parents were émigrés...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
in which the publisher offered to testify in the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
regarding the Dirty War. The daily's opposition to the dictatorship intensified, and on January 30, 1977, its circulation was confiscated, as well as the corresponding color magazine insert, on the charge of "offending the Argentine government and military."
The technical manager of La Opinón, Edgardo Sajón, was abducted on April 1, and La Opinión placed under Federal intervention
Federal intervention
Federal intervention is an attribution of the federal government of Argentina, by which it takes control of a province in certain extreme cases. Intervention is declared by the President with the assent of the National Congress...
. Urged to leave the country by friends and family, Timerman refused, and on April 15, he was abducted by a paramilitary group under the orders of Buenos Aires Province Police Chief Ramón Camps
Ramón Camps
Ramón Juan Camps was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process...
; the publishing house was expropriated in November. Timerman was kept in detention for a period of two and a half years, and was subjected to torture during the early days of his detention; he was ultimately released in September 1979, and sought exile in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. La Opinión remained in print under military ownership until its last remaining assets were sold at auction in December 1980.
He returned to Argentina in January 1984, and edited La Razón
La Razón (Buenos Aires)
La Razón is a local newspaper distributed in the public transportation system in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was founded in 1905 by Argentine journalist Emilio Morales an as an afternoon and evening newspaper in broadsheet format. The daily was acquired by a prominent news editor, José A...
until 1987. Timerman died in 1999.
A controversy revisited
The long-defunct La Opinión became one of numerous points of contention during a series of political controversies between Clarín and KirchnerismControversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism
The Argentine media corporation Grupo Clarín and the government of Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner have been involved in a number of controversies since 2008...
from 2008 onward. David Griaver's widow, Lidia Papaleo, testified in 2010 to having been intimidated by Clarín Group
Grupo Clarín
Grupo Clarín is the largest media conglomerate of Argentina.-Overview:Established as such in 1999, it includes the Clarín newspaper , Papel Prensa , the Artear media company, and numerous other media outlets.Rooted in the successful, 1945 launch of the centrist daily,...
executive Héctor Magnetto
Héctor Magnetto
Héctor Horacio Magnetto is an Argentine executive associated with the Clarín Group, the country's largest media company.-Life and career:...
, and subsequently tortured by the police, to forfeit further payment in 1977 for her inherited shares in La Opinión and the nation's leading newsprint
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
maker, Papel Prensa
Papel Prensa
Papel Prensa is the largest Argentine manufacturer of newsprint, furnishing 75% of the local market in the staple. The public–private partnership became the focus of one of a series of controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism in 2010.-Establishment:Papel Prensa originated in the establishment...
. She later recanted her testimony, affirming simply that she had been pressured to sell her shares, though never under duress.