Agustín Edwards Eastman, Chilean newspaper publisher, Died at 89

  Media

Agustín Iván Edmundo Edwards Eastman was born on November 24, 1927, and died on April 24, 2017.

He was a Chilean newspaper publisher.

Eastman was one of the richest people in Chile.

Eastman inherited his family’s newspaper company El Mercurio SAP, which publishes Chile’s leading national dailies El Mercurio and La Segunda among others, when his father died in 1956.

Eastman has been described as a media baron, and is known for his right-wing views.

Whilst he was a publisher, Agustin has used El Mercurio SAP’s newspapers to influence public opinion in Chile, and he supported the 1973 coup d’état to oust socialist President Salvador Allende.

Eastman was one of the main Chilean participants in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Operation Mockingbird campaign to influence the media in Latin American countries, reported by the U.S. Senate’s Church Committee.

María Luisa del Río Fernández was his wife, together they have six children.

Agustín Iván Edmundo Edwards Eastman passed away at 89 years old.