A staunchy foe of Catalonia Independence, Mr. José-Manuel Lara Bosch, died of cancer on January 31st. Heir of a Media empire built by his father, a Spanish Legion Captain, Mr. José Manuel Lara Hernandez, who fought alongside Franco fascist army and settled in Barcelona in 1939, as a conqueror. Mr. Lara Bosch was a vocal opponent to Catalonia Independence and on a regularly basis threatened to move its firms to Madrid if Catalans vote for Independence.
He was at the forefront in the media battle against the Independence, as he was the owner of media outlets such as La Razon, a well-known, but minor, hate media totally opposed to President of Catalonia, Mr. Artur Mas, and, in general, to the Independence Process in progress.
Lately, Mr. Lara Bosch took control of Atresmedia, the biggest media complex in Spain including two TV channels such as Antena3TV (conservative) and La Sexta (liberal), both of them sharing its opposition to Catalonia Independence. In concrete, La Sexta channel was instrumental to Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, to become a well known pundit.
Currently he was negotiating to take control of El Periodico de Catalunya, one of the two most important Catalan journals, in what was considered a strategic move to influence public opinion against Independence.
The origin of the media empire was a publisher firm, Planeta, founded by Mr. Lara Hernandez during the Franco regime, that contributed to the dissemination of pro-Francoist writers in Catalonia, and attempted to make Spanish as the first literary language in detriment of Catalan.
Lara family is also a key contributor to RCD Espanyol football club, a historically failed attempt to oppose to FC Barcelona club.
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