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El Espectador will no longer be a daily newspaper. The newspaper
could no longer resist the economic crisis. The newspaper was renown for
defending moral principles and establishing a frontal fight against drug
dealers and corruption, while owned by the Cano family. In 1986 its
director was murdered by the drug dealing Mafia's and 3 years later the
same criminal gangs blew a bomb with 300 kilograms of dynamite in the
production plant. Thereafter, the newspaper has been plummeting into
disaster. Being bought by the Grupo Santodomingo, Colombia's strongest
economic group, did little for its reputation of independence and
certainly did not solve its problems.
It is not surprising to find that the newspaper appealed to
questionable strategies. After all, it is now owned by a group that is
focused in making money regardless of the effects on public health of
their campaign. I am not surprised with the lack of qualms in the
declarations by the director of sales. For this economic group, lack of
scruples may be a virtue. What is deplorable is that the government and in
particular the ministry of health has not made a case giving this issue
the relevance it needs. The government is a long way behind suing tobacco
companies and others who benefit of promoting products that put public
health at risk. Thousands of Colombians are being killed or injured
fighting to avoid the distribution of addictive substances in the
developed world. Meanwhile, Colombia's strongest economic group benefit of
distributing similarly addictive and hazardous substances with no remorse,
while the government turns a blind eye on the issue. It is inadmissible
that we send our people to fight someone else's war and ignore similarly
serious problems in our homeland.
Desperate and innapropriate strategies to survive
El Espectador will no longer be a daily newspaper. The newspaper
could no longer resist the economic crisis. The newspaper was renown for
defending moral principles and establishing a frontal fight against drug
dealers and corruption, while owned by the Cano family. In 1986 its
director was murdered by the drug dealing Mafia's and 3 years later the
same criminal gangs blew a bomb with 300 kilograms of dynamite in the
production plant. Thereafter, the newspaper has been plummeting into
disaster. Being bought by the Grupo Santodomingo, Colombia's strongest
economic group, did little for its reputation of independence and
certainly did not solve its problems.
It is not surprising to find that the newspaper appealed to
questionable strategies. After all, it is now owned by a group that is
focused in making money regardless of the effects on public health of
their campaign. I am not surprised with the lack of qualms in the
declarations by the director of sales. For this economic group, lack of
scruples may be a virtue. What is deplorable is that the government and in
particular the ministry of health has not made a case giving this issue
the relevance it needs. The government is a long way behind suing tobacco
companies and others who benefit of promoting products that put public
health at risk. Thousands of Colombians are being killed or injured
fighting to avoid the distribution of addictive substances in the
developed world. Meanwhile, Colombia's strongest economic group benefit of
distributing similarly addictive and hazardous substances with no remorse,
while the government turns a blind eye on the issue. It is inadmissible
that we send our people to fight someone else's war and ignore similarly
serious problems in our homeland.
Competing interests: No competing interests