La Opinión (Argentina)
| Company type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Founder | Jacobo Timerman |
| Defunct | 1980 |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires , Argentina |
Key people | Jacobo Timerman (founder and editor), Julio Algañaraz, Horacio Verbitsky, Juan Carlos Algañaraz |
| Products | Newspaper |
La Opinión was an Argentine newspaper established in 1971 by journalist Jacobo Timerman. Its centrist stance drew partial inspiration from the Parisian daily Le Monde.
History
Jacobo Timerman, an Argentine Jewish immigrant originally from Ukraine, had previously founded notable publications including the news magazines Primera Plana and Confirmado. Promoted as "the news daily for the great minority" through a campaign created by writer Pedro Orgambide, La Opinión embraced an editorial perspective that Timerman characterized as economically right-wing, politically centrist, and culturally leftist.
The initial editorial team comprised Timerman as editor, alongside managing editors Julio Algañaraz, Horacio Verbitsky, and Juan Carlos Algañaraz. Additional editorial contributors included Tomás Eloy Martínez, Jose Maria Pasquini Durán, Felisa Pinto, Roberto Cossa, and Julio Nudler.
Under the editorial leadership of Timerman, Julio Algañaraz, Horacio Verbitsky, and Juan Carlos Algañaraz, the newspaper featured work from prominent Argentine journalists and cultural figures such as Juan Gelman, Miguel Bonasso, Carlos Ulanovsky, Tomás Eloy Martínez, Ernesto Sábato, Pompeyo Camps, Osvaldo Soriano, and Roberto Cossa. Rather than using photographs, articles were accompanied by caricatures drawn by Hermenegildo Sábat. By 1974, La Opinión had achieved a daily circulation of 150,000 copies, making it the fourth-largest newspaper in Buenos Aires.
Silent partner
In 1974, Timerman sold a 45% ownership share of La Opinión to David Graiver, a real estate developer and financier linked to the Montoneros guerrilla organization. Graiver is reported to have laundered approximately US$17 million obtained by the Montoneros through kidnapping operations into various business ventures, including La Opinión. He died in a plane crash on August 7, 1976.
The newspaper extensively covered issues related to the Third World and the Arab–Israeli conflict. Beginning in 1973, Timerman and his staff received death threats from the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance. The publication supported President Salvador Allende's Marxist government in Chile and was designated "Enemy Number One" by General Augusto Pinochet's regime. Nevertheless, it generally endorsed the March 1976 coup that removed President Isabel Perón, describing Argentina as being "helpless before the slaughter" caused by left-wing violence.
Suppression
As information about the Dirty War emerged, La Opinión distanced itself from the ruling dictatorship. In 1976, several members of its staff were forcibly disappeared, prompting Timerman to publish critical editorials and correspondence with Congressman Donald M. Fraser, offering to testify before the United States Congress. Opposition against the paper escalated until January 30, 1977, when its circulation was seized on charges of "offending the Argentine government and military."
On April 1, technical manager Edgardo Sajón was abducted, and subsequently La Opinión came under Federal intervention. Despite warnings to leave Argentina, Timerman remained and was kidnapped on April 15 by a paramilitary group operating under Buenos Aires Police Chief Ramón Camps. The newspaper's publishing house was expropriated in November. Timerman endured two and a half years of imprisonment and torture before being released in September 1979; following this ordeal he went into exile in Israel. The paper continued under military administration until its assets were sold at auction in December 1980.
Timerman returned to Argentina in January 1984 and served as editor of La Razón until 1987. He passed away in 1999.
Reexamining the controversy
From 2008 onwards, the now-defunct La Opinión emerged as a central element in political disputes involving Clarín and Kirchnerism. In 2010, Lidia Papaleo, widow of David Graiver, asserted that she had been subjected to intimidation by Héctor Magnetto, an executive at the Clarín Group, and claimed police coercion aimed at forcing her to surrender payment for her inherited stakes in La Opinión and Papel Prensa, Argentina's principal newsprint manufacturer. Subsequently, she withdrew this accusation, clarifying that although she experienced pressure, she was not coerced into selling her shares.