Tim Padgett
Americas EditorTim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.
He is also host of WLRN's weekly news show, The South Florida Roundup.
Padgett has reported on Latin America for more than 35 years — including for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief and for Time as its Latin America and Miami bureau chief — and he has interviewed more than 20 heads of state, from Mexico to Brazil.
In 2005, Padgett received Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize for his body of work in Latin America. 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.
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 and studied in Caracas, Venezuela, at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He has been an adult literacy volunteer and is a member of the Catholic poverty aid organization St. Vincent de Paul.
Contact Tim at tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
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Sunday's ambush and apparent abduction of members of a new international police support force underscore the relentless gang violence that has forced yet another postponement of Haiti's desperately needed elections — and the potentially deadly risks Haitian deportees face. -
COMMENTARY The upcoming Día de la Raza observance begs the question: do Latinos aspire to be part of the vital diversity that defines America, or of the vulgar exclusivity that's undermining it? -
U.S. authorities announced Wednesday they had intercepted more than 600,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel headed for a state importer in Cuba in violation of a de facto Trump administration blockade on the island. -
The Trump administration entrusts Cuba's private sector with imports to keep Cubans from starving — but bows to political pressure to discredit Cuban capitalism because conservative exiles call it a front for the communist regime. Private business accounts for as much as 80% of the island's retail activity, but is still labeled a "myth" by exile leaders. -
COMMENTARY President Trump all but confirmed this week he'll keep Venezuela's unpopular acting leader Delcy Rodríguez in place indefinitely. But could he remove her now even if he wanted to? -
Describing the city of largely Venezuelan immigrants as a "ghost town," because many residents fear venturing out and risking arrest by U.S. agents, Democrats called on Doral leaders to cancel their agreement to assist federal immigration enforcement. -
COMMENTARY A new Cuba poll should make the U.S. — especially U.S. Cubans — realize that without any democratic past to refer to, Cubans will prioritize economic improvement over political change. -
In a new report, the DHS' Office of Inspector General confirms what WLRN reported exclusively more than a year ago — that Alligator Alcatraz was using small cage enclosures to confine detainees for hours at a time as punishment for infractions including talking back to guards. -
Muslims in America faced a convulsion of Islamophobia after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Islamist terrorists — and young Muslims who watched their community's fear then are seeing the same 'clash of civilizations' bigotry today. -
The opposition oversight, imposed by the first Trump administration, was meant to help weaken Venezuela’s repressive socialist dictatorship. “The Trump administration will now own Citgo,” a Venezuela expert said. It's another sign President Trump is more interested in drilling Venezuela’s oil than in restoring its democracy. -
COMMENTARY In a move that would be both humane and hypocritical, President Trump may give Salvadoran TPS holders a reprieve from deportation — but move ahead with the expulsion of Haitians. -
After an unconfirmed media report this week that 95-year-old Cuban leader Raúl Castro is on life support in Havana, Miami is abuzz with rumors reminiscent of the decade of bogus news that preceded his brother Fidel's death in 2016. "For younger Cubans and more recently arrived Cuban exiles in Miami, Raúl is their dictator. Raúl is their Fidel," said one observer.
