Es evidente el giro editorial de sus portadas ante los varapalos sociales que estos meses han representado para Zulia. He consultado al durante casi 3 décadas, primero como lector regular y, luego, como editor de la competencia. It was the only national outlet to provide major space to Ramírez. The paper allowed former Oil Minister/PDVSA Chairman Rafael Ramírez, now in exile and Maduro’s strongest chavista critic, to publish his Sunday opinion articles, which occupied an entire page.

However, Arias eventually reconciled with Panorama once he rejoined chavismo and, last year, he went to the paper to denounce the attacks by the incumbent governor, Omar Prieto. In 2004, Belloso served as mediator between the comandante eterno and Rosales (who signed the infamous Carmona decree back in April 2002, and was later crushed by Chávez in the 2006 election). Panorama wasn’t much of a combative outlet but it wasn’t a propaganda mouthpiece either.īut he didn’t get along with then governor Francisco Arias Cárdenas, pushing instead for Manuel Rosales (later elected when Arias unsuccessfully challenged Chávez in 2000). His economic influence was also diverse and helped crush any attempt of direct competition, at least until La Verdad came out, in 1998. Journalist Juan Carlos Zapata tells in his book “ Plomo más plomo es guerra” how late Chairman-Editor, Esteban Pineda Belloso, got off the hook in the mid-90s banking crisis, thanks to his good relations.

Its dominance in Zulia was partly owed to its very good relationship with those in power both in Maracaibo and in the capital, something that didn’t start with Chávez’s arrival to Miraflores. They prefered to underplay issues like human rights abuses, with chairwoman Patricia Pineda Hernández saying “ Panorama avoided self-censorship… but also passions and fanaticism.” Panorama wasn’t much of a combative outlet but it wasn’t a propaganda mouthpiece either, like the state-owned papers or Últimas Noticias. Its tabloid-like coverage of crimes was notorious to the point that they were proud of being “the only paper that was read from the last page (where crime stories were published) to the front.” Seriously. Second, its editorial line allowed them to have a relationship with those in power, especially during the last 20 years, giving them advantages and protection.”įounded in 1904, Panorama had circulation numbers that challenged those of Caracas’ main papers. “First, they had a stronger economic muscle than their counterparts. Urbina spoke with Caracas Chronicles to explain why Panorama was able to resist longer: One after another, all Zulian newspapers have fallen to the hegemony.Īs local journalist Jesús Urbina said on Twitter: “They saw the killer shooting at them and their only beef is that the gun wasn’t the right caliber.” Yet Panorama seems committed to exculpate the government from the economic crisis that they blame as the reason for their forced pause, minimizing the role of the state controlling all newsprint purchases. For many marabinos, Panorama was still the only option to be informed about what’s going on in their town, and around the world. La Verdad, Versión Final, El Regional del Zulia and Qué Pasa are all gone, and the second largest Venezuelan city doesn’t have any papers to report the news, right in the middle of a brutal electricity shortage, which affects phone communications and internet connectivity. One after another, all Zulian newspapers have fallen to the hegemony.

Even if they promised to continue working on their digital platforms, the statement read more like a long goodbye. With a long editorial, Panorama, Maracaibo’s oldest newspaper, announced on May 14 th that it would end its print edition.

Diario panorama del zulia