Jorge Ramos: 1958—: Journalist, Author

Ramos has used his public position as a vehicle of the truth as he perceived it. In an editorial published in the Miami Herald, he stated that "Nothing has been done to solve the huge contradictions in the immigration laws." He pointed to the illicit hiring and exploitation of Hispanic gardeners, nannies, factory laborers, and field hands and charged, "There's a great deal of hypocrisy in this country about the millions of immigrants who work here without papers."

Noted for his courage under fire, Ramos has covered developing conflicts in El Salvador, the Persian Gulf, and Kosovo, Bosnia, as well as the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1996 he provoked derision from Pat Buchanan, who ridiculed his Mexican origin. While covering the GOP convention, Ramos pricked the party's power structure for admitting few Hispanic delegates and skewered the right for fostering the anti-immigration Proposition 187. The Wall Street Journal congratulated Ramos for being the first reporter to interview presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore, whose mutual interest in Hispanic voters boosted Ramos's importance to the viewing audience. He also interviewed U.S. president Bill Clinton, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Pope John Paul II, poet Octavia Paz, and novelists Isabel Allende and Carlos Fuentes.

Ramos's opinions and handsome face have made him influential and well-known. He is also an author; he has published one book per year since 1998: Behind the Mask (Detrás de la Máscara) (1998), What I Saw (Lo Que Vi) (1999), La Otra Cara de América (The Other Face of America) (2000), and A la Caza del León (The Lion Hunt) (2001). The third became a Spanish-language bestseller.