List?n Diario newspaper, taken over by the government and the Central Bank yesterday morning as part of its intervention in the assets of the collapsed Baninter Group, was published today. The action was taken, according to the authorities, as part of the legal proceedings involving alleged money-laundering, invoking article 9 of Law 72-02. Diario Libre says that the move is being considered unconstitutional by some legal experts, although the law does permit the authorities to confiscate assets believed to have been acquired illegally, without providing advance notice. Diario Libre also points out the irony of Baninter lawyer Marino (Vincho) Castillo’s role in bolstering this law while serving as president of the Consejo Nacional de Drogas, the national drug committee.
This morning’s List?n Diario refers to the takeover in its headline story, albeit in mild terms compared to yesterday’s edition. Today?s focus is concentrated on the changes in personnel than in the reasons behind the action.
In his opinion column ?El Bulevar de la Vida?, commentator Pablo McKinney describes the Baninter affair as a failure of all governments in power for the last 14 years in detecting the dubious practices that have now come to light. For that reason, the authorities need a ?Turk’s head?, or a scapegoat, to cover up their own inefficiency. National interests are not their priority, he writes, concluding with the observation that those who will suffer most (i.e. the general population) do not, for the most part, possess adequate resources to protect themselves in the same way government and business figures like President Mej?a or B?ez Figueroa can.
The main editorial, however, toes the new line by praising leading private business association CONEP’s support for the government?s actions.
There is also a full-page paid advertisement with a compilation of articles and editorial comments from other newspapers, all endorsing the government’s actions surrounding the Baninter case and the intervention in the media companies owned by the group. It is not clear who paid for the ad, which also appears in other publications.