Who Owns Libertad Digital? The Controversial Shareholding Behind Spain’s Media
Libertad Digital's ownership traces back to PP's secret fund and key business figures. A look at the financing and editorial influence behind the Spanish outlet.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Libertad Digital: Who is Behind Jiménez Losantos’s Media Outlet
The shareholding structure of Libertad Digital was never a secret, yet it remains a rarely discussed public issue. The digital outlet, founded in March 2000, began with capital split between Grupo Intereconomía and a team led by economist Alberto Recarte García-Andrade and journalist Federico Jiménez Losantos. Nearly two decades later, traces of this ownership continue to appear in judicial case files, reports on the People’s Party’s (PP) secret fund, and the boards of some of Spain’s largest companies. The question is not whether there is money behind the editorial line. The question is whose.
Who Founded Libertad Digital and With What Money
The launch of Libertad Digital rested on two pillars. On one side, Grupo Intereconomía, led by Julio Ariza, then a PP deputy in the Catalan Parliament and now close to Vox, who divested his shares in 2005. On the other, Alberto Recarte’s team, an economic advisor to Adolfo Suárez, trustee of FAES, vice president of the Circle of Entrepreneurs, board member of Caja Madrid, and president of the Hispanic-Cuban Foundation. Recarte was the project’s financial backbone until November 2011, when he stepped down as president.
The outlet’s consolidation occurred under the wing of the People’s Party, which not only awarded it licenses but also provided liquidity to move the project forward. According to past statements by Luis Bárcenas, the PP used 446,000 euros from its secret fund to cover the purchase of shares in Libertad Digital when Jiménez Losantos and Recarte asked party leaders to get involved in the 2004 capital increase. The operation was allegedly carried out by, among others, then treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta and Bárcenas’s vvife, without returning the money to the party.
The Board of Directors and Its Business Connections
Alongside Recarte, businessman Moisés Mauricio Toledano Marqués left the board in 2013. He was a former trustee of FAES and president of the multinational Eurofinsa, a leading construction group with presence in dozens of countries. Eurofinsa holds a 17.33% stake in Libertad Digital S.A., according to published data. Its managing director is Raphael Benatar Leitman, spokesperson and secretary of the Madrid Jewish community. Among Eurofinsa’s subsidiaries is IBT Group, based in Miami, whose managers are Eduardo David Bensadon, Daniel Querub Perelis, and Daniel Toledano Querub, son of Mauricio Toledano and a member of AIPAC.
The financial trail is completed by Ibercaja Bank, whose stake was established through Manuel Pizarro Moreno, president of the entity between 1995 and 2004 and later president of Endesa. Pizarro, from Teruel like Jiménez Losantos, maintained a close relationship with Recarte and the journalist himself. Endesa became, according to a specialized digital media outlet, one of El Mundo’s largest advertisers.
Black Cards and the Caja Madrid Case
Recarte’s departure from Libertad Digital coincided in time with his indictment in the Caja Madrid black card case. Two years after leaving the presidency, El Confidencial.com reported his resignation as a board member and that he had divested a substantial portion of the capital he held in the company, which neared 20%, leaving him with a symbolic percentage. The courts have never convicted Libertad Digital for these events, but the outlet’s name appears in Bárcenas’s statements regarding the PP’s irregular financing.
The Catalog of Israeli-Aligned Contributors
The analysis of the outlet is completed by the trail of its contributors. Rafael L. Bardají, founder of the Group for Strategic Studies (GEES), was director of this neoconservative and pro-Israeli think tank closely linked to American think tanks that laid the foundations of the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Bardají collaborates with the PorIsrael.org portal, founded by Doris Lustron. Carlos Bustelo and García del Real, former president of the National Securities Market Commission, is one of the promoters of the Friends of Israel Initiative and a trustee of Vox’s think tank, the Disenso Foundation.
Jiménez Losantos himself is from Teruel, like Pizarro. César Vidal, a regular contributor, is described in the debate as ethnically Jewish, although in recent times he has nuanced some of his positions on Israel.
What Is Discussed in the Public Debate on This Network
Some argue that Libertad Digital’s editorial line responds to its shareholders’ interests and that support for Israel is part of that business strategy. Countering this is the argument that the outlet has never concealed its editorial line and that its shareholders are public. The most optimistic calculation for the outlet assumes that editorial independence is compatible with financial dependence; the pessimistic scenario starts from the premise that the shareholding conditions every editorial on foreign policy.
The debate over the weight of the pro-Israel lobby in Spanish media is not new, but the case of Libertad Digital has a particularity: its shareholding is documented in judicial case files and the statements of protected witnesses. That proves nothing on its own. But it leaves a trail that other media do not have.
With these premises, it is likely that the debate over the financing of digital media will continue to grow in the coming years. The question is not whether Libertad Digital has owners with specific interests. The question is how many other media share this same model without anyone having looked under the rug.
The shareholding structure of Libertad Digital was never a secret, yet it remains a rarely discussed public issue. The digital outlet, founded in March 2000, began with capital split between Grupo Intereconomía and a team led by economist Alberto Recarte García-Andrade and journalist Federico Jiménez Losantos. Nearly two decades later, traces of this ownership continue to appear in judicial case files, reports on the People’s Party’s (PP) secret fund, and the boards of some of Spain’s largest companies. The question is not whether there is money behind the editorial line. The question is whose.
Who Founded Libertad Digital and With What Money
The launch of Libertad Digital rested on two pillars. On one side, Grupo Intereconomía, led by Julio Ariza, then a PP deputy in the Catalan Parliament and now close to Vox, who divested his shares in 2005. On the other, Alberto Recarte’s team, an economic advisor to Adolfo Suárez, trustee of FAES, vice president of the Circle of Entrepreneurs, board member of Caja Madrid, and president of the Hispanic-Cuban Foundation. Recarte was the project’s financial backbone until November 2011, when he stepped down as president.
The outlet’s consolidation occurred under the wing of the People’s Party, which not only awarded it licenses but also provided liquidity to move the project forward. According to past statements by Luis Bárcenas, the PP used 446,000 euros from its secret fund to cover the purchase of shares in Libertad Digital when Jiménez Losantos and Recarte asked party leaders to get involved in the 2004 capital increase. The operation was allegedly carried out by, among others, then treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta and Bárcenas’s vvife, without returning the money to the party.
The Board of Directors and Its Business Connections
Alongside Recarte, businessman Moisés Mauricio Toledano Marqués left the board in 2013. He was a former trustee of FAES and president of the multinational Eurofinsa, a leading construction group with presence in dozens of countries. Eurofinsa holds a 17.33% stake in Libertad Digital S.A., according to published data. Its managing director is Raphael Benatar Leitman, spokesperson and secretary of the Madrid Jewish community. Among Eurofinsa’s subsidiaries is IBT Group, based in Miami, whose managers are Eduardo David Bensadon, Daniel Querub Perelis, and Daniel Toledano Querub, son of Mauricio Toledano and a member of AIPAC.
The financial trail is completed by Ibercaja Bank, whose stake was established through Manuel Pizarro Moreno, president of the entity between 1995 and 2004 and later president of Endesa. Pizarro, from Teruel like Jiménez Losantos, maintained a close relationship with Recarte and the journalist himself. Endesa became, according to a specialized digital media outlet, one of El Mundo’s largest advertisers.
Black Cards and the Caja Madrid Case
Recarte’s departure from Libertad Digital coincided in time with his indictment in the Caja Madrid black card case. Two years after leaving the presidency, El Confidencial.com reported his resignation as a board member and that he had divested a substantial portion of the capital he held in the company, which neared 20%, leaving him with a symbolic percentage. The courts have never convicted Libertad Digital for these events, but the outlet’s name appears in Bárcenas’s statements regarding the PP’s irregular financing.
The Catalog of Israeli-Aligned Contributors
The analysis of the outlet is completed by the trail of its contributors. Rafael L. Bardají, founder of the Group for Strategic Studies (GEES), was director of this neoconservative and pro-Israeli think tank closely linked to American think tanks that laid the foundations of the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Bardají collaborates with the PorIsrael.org portal, founded by Doris Lustron. Carlos Bustelo and García del Real, former president of the National Securities Market Commission, is one of the promoters of the Friends of Israel Initiative and a trustee of Vox’s think tank, the Disenso Foundation.
Jiménez Losantos himself is from Teruel, like Pizarro. César Vidal, a regular contributor, is described in the debate as ethnically Jewish, although in recent times he has nuanced some of his positions on Israel.
What Is Discussed in the Public Debate on This Network
Some argue that Libertad Digital’s editorial line responds to its shareholders’ interests and that support for Israel is part of that business strategy. Countering this is the argument that the outlet has never concealed its editorial line and that its shareholders are public. The most optimistic calculation for the outlet assumes that editorial independence is compatible with financial dependence; the pessimistic scenario starts from the premise that the shareholding conditions every editorial on foreign policy.
The debate over the weight of the pro-Israel lobby in Spanish media is not new, but the case of Libertad Digital has a particularity: its shareholding is documented in judicial case files and the statements of protected witnesses. That proves nothing on its own. But it leaves a trail that other media do not have.
With these premises, it is likely that the debate over the financing of digital media will continue to grow in the coming years. The question is not whether Libertad Digital has owners with specific interests. The question is how many other media share this same model without anyone having looked under the rug.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (171 replies).
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