The Prince of Asturias Foundation
"El espectador" newspaper
Founded a hundred and three years ago at the time of writing, this paper has press-run of 230,000 copies and publishes ten weekly or monthly magazines. "El Espectador" has stood since its foundation for its constant struggle in support of liberty; in the last ten years it bravely denounced Colombian drug traffic.
"El Espectador" was founded on the 22nd March 1887 by Fidel Cano Isaza in the city of Medellín. Conceived of as a mean of defending the country and liberal beliefs, its efforts to do this led to its being closed by the government when it had been out for scarcely a month. After various attempts, in 1896, it managed to stay in publication regularly, maintaining its initial small page format, which it was to keep until 1913, when "El Espectador" changed to large format.
In 1915, the head office of the newspaper moved to Bogota; four years later it wold become a nationally distributed newspaper. Fidel Cano died and was replaced by his son Luis, who remained at the head of the journal until 1949, when his retirement coincided with the censorship imposed on the press by the government of Mariano Ospina Pérez. Gabriel Cano relieved him in the post, facing the hard times of the dictatorship of General Rojas Pinilla, during which, on the 6th September 1952, "El Espectador" was taken by assault, sacked and set on fire. Although a few days later the newspaper came out again, from loaned premises, in 1956 the cast-iron dictatorial censorship left no alternative but to close, in the hope of better times.
In 1958, after the overthrow of the dictator and with the "Frente Nacional" on the move, "El Espectador" reappeared as a morning newspaper. Six years later the newspaper bought a building, where a new press was installed and the current stage of the daily began to be forged. In the Seventies the Sunday edition was accompanied by a magazine-format supplement. At the beginning of the Eighties, Gabriel Cano died, but the family line of succession was maintained in Guillermo Cano Isaza, who took over the running of the paper.
With the change of director a fight without quarter began against the "Gran Colombiano" group, an important financial empire, which "El Espectador" accused of "doubtful handling" of the savers´ money. This campaign led to severe business pressures, which meant a reduction in advertising in the newspaper. This process was known as the "economic pincer against the press". In 1984 "El Espectador"´s special investigations group received the National Journalism Prize for its work on the "Gran Colombiano" group.
In these same years, around 1980, "El Espectador" began to denounce the operations of drug traffickers and the director, in a column called "Cuaderno de apuntes" ["The Notebook"], laid bare, with proper names, the obscure network of drug dealing in Colombia. On the 17th December 1986 Guillermo Cano Isaza was assassinated as he left work.
His sons, Juan Guillermo and Fernando Cano, keep the flag flying, loyal to founding principals of "El Espectador". In the editorial published the day after their father´s death, the following phrase could be read: "Seguimos adelante" [We carry on].
"El Tiempo" newspaper
Colombia´s foremost newspaper, "El Tiempo" has maintained a constant, firm commitment to liberty and democracy over its seventy-five years in operation. In the last decade it has become a staunch enemy of drug traffic.
"El Tiempo" began its career on the 30th January 1911, in the city of Bogota. Its founder and first director was Alfonso Villegas Restrepo, but two years later his brother-in-law, Eduardo Santos Montejo, bought the newspaper over. Santos had contributed to the newspaper since its second edition, sending articles from Europe, where he lived. Since 1913 the name of "El Tiempo" has been historically linked to the surname Santos, a family where almost everyone works in the newspaper. Eduardo Santos defended the absolute independence of "El Tiempo" all the time he was at its head.
His brother Enrique, the author of one of the most widely-read newspaper columns in Colombia - under the pen-name "Caliban" - replaced him as director in 1917. Enrique Santos notably modernised the newspaper, buying a linotype in Europe in 1918 and in 1924 acquiring 24-page tabular duplex press. Thereafter "El Tiempo" became the leading Colombian newspaper in readership and influence.
"El Tiempo"´s struggle in support of liberty and democracy produced violent reactions from those under attack from its pages. In 1952 the newspaper´s buildings were set on fire. Thirteen years later the dictatorship of general Rojas Pinilla ordered its closure, when Eduardo Santos refused to publish a communique of the military government, considering that the publication of the text went against the ideals of the newspaper and his own dignity.
In the Sixties and Seventies "El Tiempo" underwent a process of growth and development, led by Roberto García Pena, who ran it from 1939 to 1981. In the latter year his post was taken over by Hernando Santos Castillo, who is still in charge; García Pena is the "emeritus" director.
This last decade has seen a step forward in "El Tiempo"´s commitment to democratic values, as the daily paper has taken on, with determination, the task of denouncing the activities of drug traffickers in Colombia. In its pages it has shown up the movements of the drug dealers´ "black" money, which has led to the newspaper and those in charge of it receiving constant threats; nowadays, "El Tiempo" is a sort of armoured bunker. The last action taken by the drug "godfathers" against the daily paper was the kidnapping of Hernando Santos´s son in September previous to the time of writing.
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