Jorge Gilberto Ramos Ávalos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxoɾxe ˈramos]; born March 16, 1958) is a Mexican and American journalist and news anchor.
Based in Miami, Florida, he anchored the Univision news television program Noticiero Univision, the Univision Sunday-morning political news program Al Punto, and the Fusion TV English-language program America with Jorge Ramos. He is one of the best-known Spanish-language news anchors in the United States. During his 39-year tenure with Univision, he has covered five wars, and events ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the War in Afghanistan.
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Early life
Jorge Gilberto Ramos Ávalos was born on March 16, 1958, in Mexico City, Mexico, to a Roman Catholic family, and he was raised in the Bosques de Echegaray neighborhood of Naucalpan, a suburb of Mexico City. His father was an architect. He attended Catholic schools where he states he was abused by the priests.
Ramos graduated from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City where he majored in communications. Ramos has a Master's degree in International Studies from the University of Miami. In 2007, the University of Richmond conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters.
Career
Ramos worked for Grupo Televisa's flagship XEW-TV in Mexico City for the network's local version of 60 Minutes. At the age of 24, he quit that job after a story he produced that was critical of Mexico's government was censored. In 1983, he left Mexico on a student visa for Los Angeles, where he planned to enroll in the UCLA Extension's journalism classes. In 1984, he was hired by KMEX-TV, an affiliate of what was then the Spanish International Network (SIN) in Los Angeles, which operated on a shoestring budget in a run-down facility on Melrose Avenue. At KMEX, Ramos felt he could express himself freely: "To me it was a palace... the United States gave me opportunities that my country of origin could not: freedom of the press and complete freedom of expression." Three years later, he became the host for KMEX's morning program, Mundo Latino. In 1987, Ramos then joined SIN's national operation which was rebranded as the Univision network a year later after coming under new ownership; Univision has a broad entertainment and news-sharing agreement with Televisa.
Since 1987, Ramos has been the anchorman for Noticiero Univision, a nightly Spanish language newscast, alongside colleague María Elena Salinas. He also hosts Al Punto, a Spanish-language Sunday public affairs program aired weekly on Univision, and America with Jorge Ramos, an English language news magazine on Fusion TV.
In 1989, as he watched the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ramos has said he remembered thinking, "This is why I am what I am!" Other world events he covered include the Salvadoran Civil War, the Persian Gulf War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. During the United States's War in Afghanistan, Ramos traveled there on his own while on vacation because his network refused to send him. Throughout his career he has covered five wars.
As of 2014, KMEX-DT his Univision 34 news shows regularly beat their English language competition among young viewers. He has interviewed multiple world leaders including Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chávez.
Ramos also writes a bilingual newspaper column that is published internationally, and appears regularly as a pundit on English-language cable networks, like CNN and MSNBC. Polls among American Latinos rank him as the most trusted and influential Hispanic in America, surpassing all other political leaders, and his Q Score among Latino audiences places him between soccer star Lionel Messi and pop singer Shakira.
Personal life
Ramos earned a master's degree in international studies at the University of Miami in Florida.
In 2008, Ramos became a United States citizen, after many years of feeling personally conflicted over the matter. He had considered himself just another "Mexican with a green card." That year, however, his 50th birthday, he had lived in Mexico 25 years and 25 years in the United States, and came to a realization, explaining, "You have to go through a mental and emotional process to recognize who you really are," Ramos said. "I finally recognized that I cannot be defined by one country. I am from both countries. It took me many years to make peace with that thought, and that I was never going back to Mexico."
Ramos has been married twice. His first wife was Gina Montaner, daughter of exiled Cuban author Carlos Alberto Montaner; they had one daughter, Paola (born 1988). They divorced in 1990 and Paola was raised by her mother in Spain. In 1992, he married Lisa Bolivar in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They had one son, Nicolas, and they divorced in 2005. He dated Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, but since 2011, he has been in a relationship with Venezuelan TV host and actress Chiquinquirá Delgado, who has two daughters from previous relationships. He lives in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami.
Although raised Roman Catholic, Ramos does not believe in God, calling himself an agnostic. He has criticized Pope Francis for presiding over the canonization of Pope John Paul II, who he believes willingly covered up abuses committed by Catholic priests.
Ramos is registered as an independent voter.
Ramos disclosed in June 2015 that his daughter, Paola Ramos, was working for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
Awards and accolades
Jorge Ramos "has won 10 Emmy awards (including an honorary Emmy and a Lifetime Achievement award)" and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for excellence in journalism.
In 2015, Ramos was one of the people selected for the five different covers of Time's issue listing "The World's 100 Most Influential People". That same year he was awarded the International Career in Journalism accolade by Ondas Awards.