Publisher of Argentina's Clarin, Herrera de Noble, dies

Ernestina Herrera de Noble, the longtime publisher of Argentina's Clarin newspaper who helped build one of Latin America's largest media conglomerates, died on Wednesday at age 92.

Herrera de Noble led Argentina's widest-circulation newspaper for nearly 50 years. She took over Clarin after her husband died in 1969. Under her leadership, the Grupo Clarin bought dozens of cable systems, radio stations and TV channels in addition to its flagship daily paper.

Grupo Clarin announced her death Wednesday and said that her health had been deteriorating over the past three weeks. No other details were provided.

President Mauricio Macri expressed his condolences on Twitter and praised Herrera de Noble's commitment to protect freedom of the press.

Clarin and Macri's predecessor, former President Cristina Fernandez, became bitter opponents during her 2007-2015 administration. The newspaper criticized her 2008 decision to raise farm export taxes, which sparked a revolt by farmers.

Fernandez canceled the tax hike after months of crippling food and transport strikes. Her government then launched an assault on the Grupo Clarin, passing a new media law to try to force big media companies to break apart.

Herrera de Noble for years also faced accusations of illegally adopting her two children Marcela and Felipe Noble.

She denied the charges, which were dismissed last year after DNA tests on the adopted pair in 2011 showed no match to a database of some of the victims of the 1970s Argentine dictatorship. Scores of babies were stolen by political prisoners of the military junta and were later adopted by people sympathetic to the regime.