Antonio Caño is named Editor-in-Chief of El País

The Board of Directors of El País, at its meeting today in Madrid, unanimously appointed Antonio Caño as Editor-in-Chief of El País, replacing Javier Moreno. The hand-over will become effective on May 4, coinciding with the 38th anniversary of the newspaper. The proposal by Juan Luis Cebrian, executive chair of El País, was made public last week. As is established by the newspaper’s statutes, the new appointment was communicated to the Editorial Committee and was subject to a consultative vote cast by the workforce before being forwarded to the Board of Directors.

Antonio Cano, aged 56 and born in Martos (Jaén), holds a degree in Journalism from Madrid’s Complutense University. He is married and has three children. After working at the news agency EFE, he joined EL PAÍS in 1982, where he worked as a correspondent in Mexico and Central America. He was also bureau chief in Washington, a role he held for more than 10 years until today. In addition, he has also held the positions of International editor and deputy editor for the Sunday edition, and was head of the Research and Analysis section. Over the course of his professional career, he has covered events including the wars in the Persian Gulf, the Falklands War, conflicts in Chad and El Salvador, the struggle against Pinochet in Chile, the fall of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and four presidential elections in the United States . He has interviewed numerous presidents, heads of state and leading public figures, the latest being Barack Obama, President of the United States. During his last posting in Washington, he launched the Americas edition of El País, which has become a benchmark for news in the Spanish-speaking world. Last November, the newspaper expanded its presence in Latin America with the launch of a separate edition in Brazil, and which boasts a newsroom in Sao Paulo. Caño received the Critical Eye (Ojo Crítico ) Award from Spanish National Radio (RNE) in 1989, and in 2011 the King of Spain honored him with the Medal of Civil Merit.

Javier Moreno Barber, born in Paris 50 years ago, will leave his post after eight years at the helm of the newspaper. Moreno will be taking on new responsibilities at PRISA in the areas of management and content development in print press, including EL PAÍS, as well as in radio, television, in the digital world and in Latin America.

Antonio Caño becomes the fifth editor-in-chief of EL PAÍS since the paper was founded in 1976, when Juan Luis Cebrián was at the helm of the daily paper. Cebrián was followed in 1988 byJoaquín Estefanía, by Jesús Ceberio in 1993 and by Javier Moreno in 2006.