Maria Elvira Salazar
Maria Elvira Salazar is a Cuban-American journalist and broadcast television anchor who worked for the Spanish-language network Telemundo for three decades after serving as a news anchor for Miami-based Mega TV. She has also worked for CNN Español and Univision. She has appeared on Fox News and Fox Business. She was the Republican candidate for Florida's 27th congressional district in 2018.
Early life and education
Salazar was born in Miami, the daughter of Cuban exiles. She grew up bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English. She spent part of her childhood in Puerto Rico.She studied at the Deerborne School of Coral Gables and graduated from Miami Dade College.
In 1983, Salazar received a BA in Communications from the University of Miami, and in 1995 a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Journalism career
Her journalistic debut began in 1983 as a general assignment reporter for Channel 23.In 1984 she served as senior political correspondent for the National News in Spanish television in the U.S. for the Spanish International Network, which later became Univision. In 1988 she began working as a White House and Pentagon correspondent for Univision. In 1991, she became the bureau chief at the Central America division of Univision while covering the war at El Salvador.
In 1993, she started working for the Telemundo Network, serving later as senior political correspondent for Telemundo in Cuba. In 1995, she interviewed Fidel Castro for Telemundo at the Cuban mission to the UN. She is said to have been the only U.S. Spanish-language television journalist to interview Castro one-on-one.
In 1996, she was one of the two Hispanic journalists that participated in the only political debate in the 50 years after the Cuban revolution between two politically active figures: Ricardo Alarcon, the president of the National Cuban Assembly, and Jorge Mas Canosa, the founder and president of the Cuban American National Foundation and one of the most famous supporters of the anti-Castro movement.
Salazar spent three decades working at Telemundo until 2002, when she left that TV station and continued her career as a journalist with America TV 41 with her own political news show Maria Elvira Confronta. Later, in 2003, she moved to Channel 22.
In 2006, Raul Alarcon, owner of Spanish Broadcasting System, purchased channel 22, and the channel is now known as Mega TV. She then changed the name of the program to "Polo Opuestos" under the new owners. She maintained the debate dynamic of her show, but renamed it Maria Elvira Live!. By this time, she has gained an enormous prestige in Florida as a political TV host.
She also interviewed several actors of the telenovela Pablo Escobar: The Drug Lord, including the imprisoned Escobar lieutenant John Jairo Velásquez.
Salazar has said that after her interview with Fidel Castro, her second biggest television interview was with Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, in 2003. This interview was cited by Chilean Judge Juan Guzman as a legal basis to rule Pinochet "mentally competent to stand trial for human rights violations".
On 2013, Salazar interviewed Cuban dissident and blogger Yoani Sánchez, in New York City.
Salazar has interviewed several public figures, among them, presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Spanish President José María Aznar, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Juan Manuel Santos, and Mother Teresa.
In 2016 she came back to Mega TV as the anchor of the night newscast.
Political career
2018 congressional election
The Miami Herald reported in January 2018 that retiring Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who had represented the 27th congressional district since 1989, had met with Salazar. Ros-Lehtinen said that her district was "totally winnable for the right candidate" from the Republican Party, adding that Salazar "could be the right candidate."In March 2018, Salazar announced her candidacy to represent the district, which includes Miami Beach, most of Miami, Kendall, and parts of coastal south Dade County. This traditionally Republican district, that includes wealthy communities like Miami Beach, Key Biscayne and Coral Gables as well as Little Havana in Miami, has been trending Democratic in recent years.
On August 28, 2018, Salazar won the Republican primary by a margin of about 15 points over her leading competitor, Bruno Barreiro. Former Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala won the Democratic nomination for the seat. The only debates held during the general election were conducted in Spanish. Shalala does not speak Spanish and was forced to use an interpreter, giving Salazar an advantage. Each of the candidates declined opportunities to debate the other in English due to scheduling conflicts. Although Hillary Clinton had won the district by almost 20 points in 2016 – Clinton's best showing in a Republican-held district – polling as late as a month out from Election Day showed Salazar either narrowly ahead or statistically tied with Shalala. Salazar lost the general election to Shalala, who won nearly 52 percent of the vote.
2020 congressional election
On August 2019, Salazar announced her candidacy to run in a rematch against Shalala.Political views
Salazar's Republican primary opponent, Bruno Barreiro, criticized her for her 1995 interview with Fidel Castro, in which she referred to the Cuban dictator as a "comandante", as well as 2016 appearance on Fox News where she described Barack Obama's rapprochement with Cuba as "noble." Salazar called Barreiro's attack advertising "defamatory," and said that "I have been one of the staunchest, most hardest critics of the Cuban Revolution on the air."She joined Senator Marco Rubio in suggesting that birthright citizenship should be "reviewed," citing abuse of the law by foreign visitors to South Florida.
Salazar publicly supported a carbon tax proposal by Rep. Carlos Curbelo, which many other Republicans rejected. One of Salazar's campaign commercials vowed to fight for environmental protection in Congress.
On healthcare, Salazar said that she would only support repeal of the Affordable Care Act if a viable alternative were presented. She opposed repeal of the ACA's mandate that health insurers cover pre-existing conditions, but called for "free market" policies on health insurance.
Portraying herself as a moderate Republican, Salazar said she wants to do "whatever makes sense to the community"; of President Donald Trump, Salazar said: "The president has used pretty insensitive words. I will talk to him in a nice, respectful way, because I do respect the institution of the presidency."
Salazar said that she might back an assault weapons ban and citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. She supports universal background checks.
Salazar criticized President Barack Obama's policy of engagement with Cuba, saying that she would support lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba once there is democracy in the country.
She has heavily criticized Bernie Sanders for "his honeymoon in the Soviet Union" and "his praise for Nicaragua's and Cuba's socialist regimes".