Forget the Pope and Sub-Comandante Marcos, the real story is Maria Elena Salinas Miami, Florida

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, Feb-March, 2002 by Anita Savio

"I was like, 'Oh my god, I want to die! I was shaking by this point. So many emotions, because I'm speaking to Marcos. Even though some people think he's just a crazy lunatic, a crazy guerilla, he's someone who is making history."

Asked her opinion of Marcos, Salinas replies that she sees him as an idealist. "I don't think he is somebody who is going to he very big in history, but he is someone who was able to bring out the issues of the indigenous people in Mexico."

And as far as how she maintained her objectivity in Mexico, she stresses the advantage of her bi-cultural perspective. "I can look at it from the Mexican point of view, but also from an American point of view. I am an American, but I am a Hispanic-American.

"One of the columns I recently wrote was about being proud of political representation. A woman wrote to me and said she would never, never vote for a Hispanic politician because she feels that running as a Hispanic is demeaning and keeps people from assimilating. I completely disagree. In this country there will always be Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Italian-Americans. This is a country of immigrants, and that's what makes it so interesting. I grew up bi-culturally, and I'm raising my daughters to be that way."

"Being Hispanic is being part of what this country's about."

Biography

1954    Born in the United States of
        Mexican parents

1970    Graduated from East Los
        Angeles Community College

1981    Started as a reporter with
        Channel 34 in Los Angeles

1987    Took journalism courses at
        UCLA

1987    Became co-anchor of
        Noticiero Univision

1991    First interviewed President Bill
        Clinton

1993    Married Eliott Rodriguez

1997    Received Edward R. Murrow
        Award for coverage of the
        Atlanta Olympic Park bombings

1999    Won two Emmys for coverage of
        Hurricane Mitch

2001    Interviewed Sub-Comandante
        Marcos

Info LINK

Maria Elena Salinas

Noticiero Univision

Co-Anchor

UNIVISION

9405 NW 41st St Miami FL 33178

msalinas@UNIVISION.NET

www.mariaesalinas.com

Anita R. Savio works with non-profit organizations on strategic-planning issues. She is also a freelance writer.