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| + | '''THIS PAGE IS BEING REVISED''' |
| − | <span style="font-size:200%;">The Mystery of the Missing Misterios</span>
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| − | [[File:Dr Misterio logo.JPG|250px|right|Doctor Misterio logo]]
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| − | There is something amiss with the sales of '''Doctor Who / Dr Misterio''' to [[:Category:Central America|Central American]] and [[:Category:South America|South American]] countries.
| + | {{Under construction]] |
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| − | The big '''mystery''' is, did the series actually screen in all the countries purported to have purchased the series? And did it screen in countries '''not''' recorded in BBC files?
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| − | In an interview with Tom Baker from early December 1979, published in ''Starlog'' magazine issue 34 (cover dated May 1980), he says "''Dr Who'' sells in every country in South America except two…". He doesn't state which those two are, but at a guess it would be French Guiana and Surinam, where English, Portuguese and Spanish are not the principal languages.
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| − | Of course, we have to assume that Baker knows what he is talking about, and is not merely making up figures and exaggerating, as Baker is well-known for doing (especially in more recent years). But based on other comments he makes in the same interview (such as that the series has been sold to the [[United Arab Emirates|Middle East]] and Far East (e.g. [[Hong Kong]] and [[Brunei]]), [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]], and 65 places in [[United States|America]])) we certainly feel there is a high degree of truth in what he claims, as he would certainly have had conversations with his bosses as to how successful sales of his stories had been by that point.
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| − | The timing of this interview, late 1979, certainly ties in with when the bulk of the known sales to South America and Latin America took place, as this article demonstrates.
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| − | [[File:LatinAm.JPG |right|thumb|250px|Latin America – green = Spanish; orange = Portuguese]]
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| − | The following Central and South American countries are named in a series of internal BBC memos (going up to December 1979) advising the corporation's music copyright department of the countries to which the series had been sold, to clear the rights to use incidental music featured in the first 23 [[Tom Baker stories]], [[Robot]] to [[The Invasion of Time]]. The same groupings of countries appear consistently on all the memos, some of which have different dates, which reflect more when each individual memo was written than the dates on which the actual "sales" were formally contracted:
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| − | {| {{small-table}}
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| − | |[[Ecuador]]||27 November; 1 & 7 December 1978
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| − | |[[Venezuela]], [[Mexico]], '''[[Chile]]'''||16 & 23 February 1979
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| − | |[[Brazil]], '''[[Guatemala]]'''||23 & 27 March 1979
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| − | The memos do actually group the countries together on the same page: so [[Venezuela]], [[Mexico]] and [[Chile]] (in that order) are on the same series of memos, and [[Brazil]] and [[Guatemala]] (in that order) are both on the same set of notices.
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| − | The February 1987 memo mentioned in '''The Eighties''' [http://www.shillpages.com/howe/b-dw80s.htm - THE LOST CHAPTERS] records sales to the following Latin American countries:
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| − | {| {{small-table}} | |
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| − | |'''[[Chile]]'''||'''23''' stories
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| − | |[[Costa Rica]]||'''1''' story
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| − | |[[Dominican Republic]]||'''7''' stories
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| − | |'''[[Guatemala]]'''||'''24''' stories *
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| − | |[[Honduras]]||'''24''' stories *
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| − | |[[Nicaragua]]|| '''24''' stories *
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| − | [* We feel sure that '''24''' should be '''23''', as that was how many Baker stories were in the package.]
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| − | '''BUT'''
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| − | Is there any significance in the fact that [[Costa Rica]]'s "1" plus [[Chile]]'s "23" equals '''"24"'''? (Both countries start with the letter "C". Coincidence?) Could it be that for those other three countries allocated with '''"24"''', there is yet another country (not named) being the extra "1" in the total?
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| − | (Of course, without our seeing the actual memo itself, it's impossible to judge the accuracy of the data (i.e. were the countries bracketed in any way?; the online version of the list has the numbers inside brackets, but is that how the numbers were presented in the memo?; were the countries listed down or across the page?; were they in alphabetical order, or another order, and might the order be of significance?; are there any ditto marks that haven't been taken into account?; is the "1" noted for Costa Rica in fact an "11", or a misread 'ditto mark'?)
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| − | There is also the fact that three further Latin American countries screened the series, which are not named in either of those two documents:
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| − | {| {{small-table}}
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| − | |[[Colombia]]
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| − | |[[Peru]]
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| − | |[[Puerto Rico]]
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| − | Airdates for [[Colombia]] (from 1980, and later 1987) have been found; [[Puerto Rico]] aired episodes in the "late 1970s / early 1980s", while those for [[Peru]] have yet to be fully researched...
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| − | Of note, only [[Chile]] and [[Guatemala]] appear in '''both''' sets of memos, when in fact they '''all''' should. Why are the other sales of '''Dr Misterio''' missing? [[Mexico]] and [[Colombia]] should definitely be in the 1987 memo but are both conspicuous by their absence...
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| − | Of note, [[Chile]] is in the 1987 list, but not the two other countries that appear on the same series of music clearances memos. Likewise, only [[Guatemala]], which shared the same music clearances notices with [[Brazil]], is named in the 1987 list. Does that mean that whoever compiled the 1987 listing (assuming, of course, that it was based in part on those music clearance advices), only identified the first country in each grouping, and overlooked or deliberately ignored the rest?
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| − | [[Costa Rica]] is recorded as buying only one story – and yet we have found over '''330''' airdates for that country. (It's doubtful one serial was repeated over 80 times!)
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| − | Airdates have been located for [[Chile]], [[Costa Rica]], [[Mexico]], [[Colombia]] and [[Nicaragua]] only – the series started in 1979 or 1980. Newspapers have been checked from 1978 to the mid-1980s for the other countries (with the exception of [[Honduras]], for which only 1984 onwards have been accessed). But '''"El Dr Misterio"''' is '''missing''' from the published television listings for [[Venezuela]], [[Ecuador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]] and [[Dominican Republic]]. And for [[Brazil]], where Portuguese is the official language, no listings have been found for '''"Doutor Who"'''. Sure, it's possible that the series aired outside the date ranges we've searched, but with 98 episodes to find, even if they were stripped five days a week, it is hard to believe that we couldn't find at least '''one''' listing even when viewing one week in every third month at random.
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| − | The fact that all the dated music clearances are from November 1978 to March 1979, shortly after the grand launch of the series in the [[United States]], suggests that Time Life wanted to exploit the new series to as many countries as possible, and all at the same time. Time Life handled sales to Latin America as well as North America, so did its deal include some sort of "bulk" sale / offer that encompassed not only the USA but also Latin America and South America? (Strictly speaking, [[Brazil]] is not Latin America, but since it is part of continental South America, it would presumably also be part of Time Life's catchment area; and indeed, Time Life was financially involved in helping set up Brazil's first television network in the 1960s.) There is no certainty that in all cases an actual sale ever took place. Some of these may have been '''prospective''' sales, but with a payment in advance.
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| − | In the 1960s / early 1970s, some of the television stations in Latin America were supported financially by the major networks in the [[United States]]: for instance the '''American Broadcasting Company (ABC)''' had investment interests in stations operating from [[Argentina]], [[Chile]], [[Colombia]], [[Costa Rica]], [[Ecuador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], Panama, Uruguay, and [[Venezuela]], although it's not known whether those financial interests continued into the late 1970s when '''Doctor Who''' was on offer, or whether this interest went as far as influencing the types of programmes that those stations aired. Time Life's interests in [[Brazil]]'s Globo TV had already ended by 1978.
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| − | Did Time Life perhaps operate a "pool" system, whereby they bought in advance the rights for "X" number of Latin American countries (they "guaranteed" the BBC that they could sell the series to the minimum number of countries needed to make the endeavour worthwhile), and then opened those rights for tender on a "first come, first served" basis? And then, once all the advance sales had been reached, those countries got first 'dibs' on the number of episodes they wanted. (And based on the level of interest, Time Life then undertook the long process of dubbing the episodes into [[Spanish]].)
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| − | With the recorded "sales" to [[Ecuador]], [[Chile]], [[Mexico]], [[Venezuela]], [[Brazil]] and [[Guatemala]] all being within a very short space of time of each other (a five month period), it's possible the series was offered and "sold" to all of them "sight unseen". And once the dubbed tapes had been supplied, all but [[Chile]] and [[Mexico]] decided to "pass" on the science-fiction series.
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| − | Any 'unsold' stories would then go back into the pool, to become available to a second batch of tenders? (Is this why [[Colombia]] only got nine serials?) Are the countries named in the music rights registers therefore only those from the '''first''' advance offer (even if they subsequently declined to buy the series)? And are those named in the 1987 list those from a much later (partial?) offer? (Is this why [[Dominican Republic]] has only "(7)" sales recorded?) Are the countries from the 'second' (and 'third'?) offer (made after 1980) the ones missing (omitted in error?) from the 1987 memo?
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| − | And how do the music clearances actually work? Could each music clearance fee actually cover more than one country? For instance, did the clearances for the February sale to [[Venezuela]] automatically include its neighbour, [[Colombia]], even if the named country didn't subsequently purchase the series for itself? If a fee had been paid in advance – and thus recorded in the music payments register – did it get refunded if a sale of the series did not proceed? If so, why was the register not updated? Or was the cancellation / refund recorded somewhere else?
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| − | Where the clearances in the memos actually an instruction to clear the music for use in those countries in anticipation of the sale being finalised, and in the event of the rights being refused by the copyright holder/s, did that force the sale to be cancelled? Is that why airdates cannot be found for a number of countries: the rights were refused? (Of course, it does raise the question as to why Dudley Simpson or his agents would give the OK for his music to be heard in [[Nicaragua]] and [[Colombia]], but not in [[Venezuela]]!)
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| − | Is there any significance to the fact that [[Mexico]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]] and [[Costa Rica]] all lie in very close proximity to one another?
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| − | These countries could have been able to receive television transmissions from their neighbours. Guatemala and Honduras lie between Mexico and Nicaragua; two countries for which airdates ''have not'' been found lying slap-bang between two countries for which airdates ''have'' been identified. Would that mean a country which did not buy the series still had to pay a small fee because they could pick up cross-border transmissions?
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| − | Of the countries under examination, [[Chile]] is the '''only one''' that appears in the music clearances records, has the correct number of stories in the 1987 memo (23), and has airdates confirmed. All three components are present and there are no conflicts; all the facts fit. So why is it not the same for any of the others?
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| − | Let's combine all the tables:
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| − | {| {{small-table}}
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| − | !Country!!Music Paid (to Dec 79)!!Airdates!!1987
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| − | |[[Ecuador]]||27 November, 1 & 7 December 1978||--||--
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| − | |[[Venezuela]]||16 & 23 February 1979||--||--
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| − | |[[Mexico]]||16 & 23 February 1979||4 May 1979||--
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| − | |[[Chile]]||16 & 23 February 1979||9 May 1979||23
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| − | |[[Brazil]]||23 & 27 March 1979||--||--
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| − | |[[Guatemala]]||23 & 27 March 1979||--||24
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| − | |[[Puerto Rico]]||--||late 1970s||--
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| − | |[[Costa Rica]]||--||4 Feb 1980||1
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| − | |[[Colombia]]||--||13 Feb 1980||--
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| − | |[[Nicaragua]]||--||6 Aug 1980||24
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| − | |[[Dominican Republic]]||--||--||7
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| − | |[[Honduras]]||--||--||24
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| − | |[[Peru]]||--||--||--
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| − | - [[Ecuador]], [[Venezuela]] and [[Brazil]] appear only in the music clearances, and nowhere else. Did the series actually ever screen in those three countries? Are these merely '''potential sales''' that Time Life offered but which ultimately did not go ahead – hence their absence from the other two columns? Is it possible that [[Venezuela]] on-sold their unused rights to neighbouring [[Colombia]]? Was it the fact that [[Brazil]] broadcast in the PAL format, and would have to create their own Portuguese dubs (whereas all other countries in South America had distribution by Time Life, and broadcast in NTSC and [[Spanish]]) the reason why the series didn't air?
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| − | - In terms of their first airdates, [[Mexico]] and [[Chile]] are in the same order in which they appear in the music clearance report. Coincidence? (If [[Venezuela]] '''''did''''' indeed screen the series, then presumably its first airdate would be around the same time.)
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| − | - [[Mexico]] is missing from the 1987 memo list that's presented in '''The Eighties''' [http://www.shillpages.com/howe/b-dw80s.htm - THE LOST CHAPTERS]. However it's entirely possible that [[Mexico]] '''was''' named in the memo itself, but was accidentally omitted from the published list. On that point, have any other countries been omitted? Problem is we cannot verify either way, as the authors of the book no longer have a copy of the memo...
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| − | - On that note, what of the accuracy of the music clearances? And what of the 1987 memo? How many countries were missed due to the BBC records being incomplete, or accidentally omitted during the transfer of the information from both sets of BBC documents to the researcher's note-pad?
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| − | - [[Puerto Rico]] is not named in any of the memos, and yet the series aired in "the late 1970s". (Of course, being a territory of the USA, any recorded sales to that country might be included under the listing of "[[United States]]".)
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| − | - Airdates for [[Brazil]] have been impossible to find; the country has over 50 private TV stations, which don't all have listings in newspapers.
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| − | - Newspapers have been checked for 1978 to 1980 for [[Guatemala]], so it's '''possible''' that the series aired much later. But if music clearances were made in early 1979, why hold off screening the series for more than two years? Both [[Chile]] and [[Mexico]] screened the series within a few months of the "payment" date. [[Costa Rica]] and [[Nicaragua]] also screened the series a very short time after the final entry on the music memo was recorded. If the music payment related to the start of broadcast, then '''Dr Misterio''' would have played in [[Guatemala]] around June 1979... Did [[Guatemala]] sell its rights to [[Costa Rica]]?
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| − | - [[Costa Rica]], [[Colombia]] and [[Nicaragua]] are missing from the "music paid" list – but that's perfectly understandable since their broadcasts did not commence until 1980, and the documents examined when the music memo was compiled only went up to December 1979.
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| − | - [[Colombia]] is absent from the 1987 memo, and yet the series aired in 1980, the same year as [[Costa Rica]] and [[Nicaragua]] – both of which are in the same memo, and again in mid-1987, after the memo's date of February 1987.
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| − | - Airdates for [[Dominican Republic]] have not been found despite papers covering 1980 to 1988 being checked...
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| − | - [[Peru]] is absent from the memo and the music clearances, and we only have anecdotal evidence to go on that the series had screened there. We are still searching...
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| − | - The jury is still out on [[Honduras]]; until 1979 to 1983 newspapers can be checked, we don't know for sure whether or not the series aired.
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| − | - And going back to the December 1979 Tom Baker interview, what of Paraguay, Uruguay, British Guiana, Bolivia, [[Argentina]], Panama and El Salvador? Was the series sold to those "undocumented" countries as well?
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| − | '''CONCLUSION'''
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| − | We may be completely overlooking something obvious here!
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| − | * Have we been looking in the wrong newspapers?
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| − | * Are the BBC records wrong / inaccurate / incomplete / being taken out of context?
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| − | * For those countries where no airdates have been found, were the 'sales' cancelled after the music clearance advices had been sent, and any monies paid later refunded or held on credit?
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| − | * Did some countries have to pay some sort of "proximity payment" to cover transmissions they received from their close neighbours?
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| − | * Did a sale to the ''first'' country in each region (as per the groupings on the music clearances) cover other costs of the ''second'' (and ''third''?) country within that same region, which is why the second and third country named on the same music clearances is not recorded in the 1987 memo?
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| − | * For sales and/or advance payments for screenings that didn't proceed, could the "sale" be transferred to another country that "refunded" the original purchaser instead of the BBC? (e.g. [[Venezuela]] "sold" its rights to [[Colombia]], but only the former is recorded in the clearances registers...)
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| − | * The "sales" were handled by Time Life, who would have notified the BBC of all sales that had been completed; but how accurate was their communication with the BBC? Did they provide the BBC with details of every sale?
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| − | *Did a sale of '''Doctor Who''' to one of the non-PBS networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) allow that network to on-sell the programme to those Latin American stations with which they were affiliated?
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| − | A number of questions that can't be answered – so for now, the '''Mystery of the Missing Misterios''' will have to remain unsolved...
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| − | ==Links==
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| − | *[[:Category:Central America|Central America]]
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| − | *[[:Category:South America|South America]]
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| − | *[[Spanish]]
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| − | __NOTITLE__
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