Tim Padgett
Tim Padgett is the Americas editor for Miami NPR affiliate WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida. He has reported on Latin America for almost 30 years - for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief from 1990 to 1996, and for Time as its Latin America bureau chief in Mexico and Miami (where he also covered Florida and the U.S. Southeast) from 1996 to 2013.
Padgett has interviewed more than 20 heads of state, from Brazil to Mexico, and he was one of the few U.S. correspondents to sit down with the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. He has covered every major Latin American and Caribbean story from the end of the Central American civil wars of the 1980s to NAFTA and the Colombian guerrilla conflict of the 1990s; to the Brazilian boom, the Venezuelan revolution and Mexican drug war carnage of the 2000s; to the current normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.
In 2005, Padgett received Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the oldest international award in journalism, for his body of work from the region. In 2016 he won a national Edward R. Murrow award for the radio series "The Migration Maze," about the brutal causes of - and potential solutions to - Central American migration. His 1993 Newsweek cover, “Cocaine Comes Home,” won the Inter-American Press Association’s drug coverage award.
Padgett is an Indiana native and a graduate of Wabash College. He received a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School before studying in Caracas, Venezuela, at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He started his career at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he led the paper's coverage of the 1986 immigration reform.Padgett has also written for publications such as The New Republic and America andhas been a frequent analyst on CNN, Fox and NPR, as well as Spanish-language networks such as Univision.
Padgett has been an adult literacy volunteer and is a member of the Catholic anti-poverty organization St. Vincent de Paul. He currently lives in Miami with his wife and two children.
-
COMMENTARY Christian leaders condemn the anti-immigrant crackdowns in states like Florida — but they result from the same spirit of severity faith institutions helped create. -
Florida students should learn about communist tyranny — but many fear "Victims of Communism Day" is also meant to demonize the left and ignore the brutal right. -
A residential development proposal would clear mangroves, and storm-surge buffer, near Shell Point. Lee County commissioners will vote on it next month. -
Eligible Venezuelans have until Nov. 7 to re-up their Temporary Protected Status. The Biden Administration will automatically extend work permits for a year. -
Thirty years after the Category-5 storm destroyed much of South Dade, local and state leaders gathered in Homestead to commemorate the lessons learned. -
Roman Catholic abortion rights opponents say they'll push now to get a complete ban in Florida. But U.S. polls indicate pro-choice Catholics still outnumber them. -
The U.S. could relax sanctions on Venezuelan oil to make up for its new embargo on Russian crude — but can it get reform from Venezuela's regime in return? -
The discovery of more than 30 Cuban migrants hidden in a fast boat in the Keys is the latest instance of a renewed wave Cubans say the U.S. needs to address. -
On Saturday, Florida reported the highest single-day number of new COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic. On Sunday, Florida had the highest single-day number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic.Governor Ron DeSantis, Friday announced plans for a new executive order barring schools from requiring mask-wearing.Sarasota Memorial Hospital is no long allowing visitors and NCH announced Friday it will require all staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 16.Manatee County officials announced another confirmed COVID-19 death among county staff. An outbreak in June forced the closure of the Manatee County Administration building.A nationwide moratorium on evictions that was put in place amid the pandemic expired Sunday, July 31, and the AP reports, Florida received $870 million in federal funds to help renters who've struggled to keep up with rent payments, but has only distributed 2% of that money. -
With more than 500 anti-government protesters believed locked up in Cuba, President Biden is looking to help families there without helping the regime.
