Los Tiempos

What is Los Tiempos?

Los Tiempos is a daily newspaper published in Cochabamba by Editorial Canelas S.A. Its own eightieth anniversary feature of 18 September 2023 describes the publisher as “uno de los grupos mediáticos más longevos y sólidos de Bolivia”, which is the paper's characterisation of its own owner.^[1]

Reporters Without Borders' 2026 country page for Bolivia does not name Los Tiempos, but sets the market it operates in: “the Bolivian government controls many newspapers”, and ownership of privately owned media “is highly concentrated, which jeopardises pluralism”, while independent media face “the threat of withdrawal of state advertising”.^[2] RSF placed Bolivia 91st of 180 in its 2026 index.^[2]

What does Los Tiempos cover?

The paper runs general news and a Deportes section with a Fútbol subsection and a sports feature strand called Entretiempo.^[3][4] Two examples show the range of what that desk carries.

On 7 March 2025 its football desk reported that the Federación Boliviana de Fútbol had written to Telecel claiming US$15,905,521 for 505 matches retransmitted between 1 January and 28 February through Tigo Sports 1, 2 and 3, quoting the federation's letter to the effect that the company had been “explotando comercialmente contenido audiovisual de propiedad de la FBF sin la debida autorización”, over the signatures of Fernando Costa and Gastón Uribe, with a 72-hour deadline. The claim is the federation's; the report does not record any finding against the company.^[3] On 6 February 2026 the same desk reported that Tigo Sports had rights to all 104 matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, across a television channel and an app.^[5]

Its Entretiempo strand carries longer sports history: on 13 June 2022 it reported the Comité Olímpico Boliviano's ninetieth anniversary, dating the committee's establishment to 17 June 1932 by supreme decree and Bolivia's first Olympic appearance to Berlin in 1936, with three athletes. The same piece records that Bolivia had not won a senior Olympic medal in those ninety years and that its one Olympic gold came in youth competition, the men's football team at Singapore 2010.^[4] Those are the paper's statements. Olympedia's own 1936 row records two Bolivian entrants rather than three, and this site uses Olympedia for Olympic figures.

How large is Los Tiempos's audience?

No audited circulation or audience figure for Los Tiempos could be retrieved. Its own eightieth anniversary feature gives no circulation number, saying only that it reaches readers in Cochabamba and other Bolivian cities and, digitally, abroad — a claim by the paper about itself and not a measurement.^[1] Its earlier anniversary piece of 16 September 2017 carries no figure either.^[6]

No Bolivian audited press-circulation currency could be retrieved for this page, and traffic estimators are not audited measurement, so no figure is given. The measured country-level figure that exists is RSF's 2026 index position for Bolivia, 91st of 180 with a score of 54.25.^[2]

Since when has Los Tiempos existed?

The paper states that it was founded on 16 September 1943 on the initiative of the journalist and politician Demetrio Canelas, with his brothers Julio César and Carlos: “Los Tiempos nació el 16 de septiembre de 1943, por impulso del periodista y político Demetrio Canelas.” That is the paper's own account.^[1]

The same account records an interruption of almost fourteen years. It states that the paper was shut down on 9 November 1953, when government militias destroyed its installations, and that it returned to the streets on 19 July 1967 under the direction of Carlos Canelas Canelas, carrying edition number 2,896 and so keeping the numbering continuous with the earlier run.^[1] A separate anniversary piece of 16 September 2017 marked 74 years, consistent with the 1943 date.^[6]

Why does Los Tiempos matter in Bolivia's sport?

Its sports desk publishes the documentary side of Bolivian football: rights, contracts and claims, with figures and dates. The US$15.9 million claim by the Federación Boliviana de Fútbol against Telecel, with the match count and the period, and the report of Tigo Sports holding the 2026 World Cup rights, are both used as dated sources on this site.^[3][5] Broadcast arrangements go stale quickly, and both are anchored to their publication dates. See broadcast rights.

It is also one of the few Bolivian titles with an archive strand that treats sport historically, as its 1932-to-2022 account of the Comité Olímpico Boliviano shows.^[4] On the market it works in, RSF's 2026 statements on concentration and on the withdrawal of state advertising are quoted above in RSF's own words.^[2] See Bolivia.