Today we follow the small story of El País as it celebrates its first 50 years of life. And after having referred to my work as director of El Anuario El País for more than a decade, I will mention “The Book of Nature.” Conceived as an ecological record for each year, thinking about the entire Spanish-speaking world.
The project was received with enthusiasm by naturalists such as Benigno Varillas, ecologists such as Santos Ruesga, and also by the teacher of ecologists Fernando González Bernáldez. And it was very well received among readers, selling out in a few weeks. Unfortunately, the director of El País, Cebrián, limited the edition of the book to 30,000 copies by his personal decree. When the sales forecast we had multiplied that figure by five, and furthermore, it would only be edited once. Regrettable…
Within PRISA’s board of directors, some of its members understood the importance of the new Book. Above all, Ricardo Diez Hochtleitner, who at that time was President of the Club of Rome. King Juan Carlos I himself, who wrote the book’s prologue, asked me one day about when we would publish number two. He was amazed at the situation.
Time passed and I stopped being in PRISA, I think because of my initiatives and criticisms. And problems of all kinds arose, due to the Polanco/Cebrián Group’s desire to obtain more and more media and real power. With results that soon became very negative in part, with debt that accumulated to reach, I believe, 6,000 million euros.
Polanco died in 2007, and Cebrián remained as a PRISA factotum with many errors, until 2018, when he was fired because the main thing was not resolved.
At the last General Meeting, Joseph Oughourlian, current President of PRISA, reported that the debt had been reduced to 750 million. Adding: “The Country has never been so strong.”
Congratulations.