| Type: | Daily newspaper |
| Format: | Broadsheet |
| Foundation: | September 12, 1827 (Valparaíso ed.) June 1, 1900 (Santiago ed.) |
| Owners: | Cristián Edwards del Río |
| Political: | Right-wing, conservative, liberal conservative, economic liberalism |
| Headquarters: | Avda. Santa María 5542 Vitacura, Chile |
| Editor: | Carlos Schaerer |
(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.
The Valparaíso edition of was founded by Pedro Félix Vicuña (Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna's father) on September 12, 1827, and was later acquired by Agustín Edwards 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 .
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.[1]
Declassified documents that detail US interventions in Chile revealed the paper's role,[2] 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)
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 policies of the yet-to-come Chicago Boys.[3]
Former journalists of have been crucial in the creation of various new newspapers in Chile including Diario Financiero in 1988,[4] El Líbero in 2014,[5] [6] [7] and Ex-Ante in 2020.[8] [9]
's building in Valparaíso was set on fire by protesters in October 2019 during the 2019 Chilean protests sparked by rise in transportation cost.[10]