Natalio Botana
Natalio Félix Botana Miralles (Sarandí del Yí, September 8, 1888 – San Salvador de Jujuy, August 7, 1941), was an Uruguayan journalist and entrepreneur who founded the Argentine newspaper "Crítica" in 1913. Published until 1962, "Crítica" was the most widely circulated newspaper in Latin America. Botana was a pioneer of sensationalist media in Argentina, and is considered one of the most influential personalities of the 20th century in that country. He also presided over the Argentine Football Association during a brief period in 1926. Biography. Botana was born into a family of landowners whose commercial activities were often affected  by continued political wars that erupted between the country's political parties: White and Colorados. When Botana arrived in Buenos Aires in 1911, he started to work in different newspapers until he was hired by "La Razón", the main evening paper that sold 76,000 copies at the time. Two years later, at the age of 25, he founded his own newspaper, "Crítica", which was a pioneer in the Argentine media with its sensationalist style. "Crítica" had also a wide coverage of news on the crime, focusing on information rather than opinion. "Crìtica" became a huge success, reaching its peak in  the 1920s and 1930s, where increased its daily circulation from 9,000 to 30,000 copies. The newspaper then added a new edition and two supplements, one covering sports and another covering culture, named "Crítica Magazine". Among the contributing writers were Raúl González Tuñón, Roberto Arlt, Jorge Luis Borges, Enrique González Tuñón, Carlos de la Púa, and Bernardo Verbitsky. The basement of his house in Don Torcuato, a Buenos Aires suburb served in 1933 as the site for "Plastic Exercise" by exiled Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Botana died in a car accident in 1941. Personal life. Botana was married to the  writer Salvadora Medina Onrubia, and his daughter Georgina was the mother of comedian and writer Raúl Damonte Botana, known by the pseudonym of Copi, who was a successful artist in France with his strip "La femme assise" (the sit woman), published during ten years on "Le Nouvel Observateur". His nephew is the famous political scientist Natalio R. Botana, who has written articles for "La Nación".