Tim Padgett
Americas EditorTim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.
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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Right-wing populist Abelardo De la Espriella surged to the front of the Colombian presidential election's first round on Sunday — capturing 90% of the South Florida expat vote with his iron fist-against-crime campaign — and is the front-runner for the June 21 runoff against left-wing rival Iván Cepeda. -
COMMENTARY Prediction markets are betting President Trump will order military action in Cuba, but not regime change — as they know his priority is to make countries ripe for deportation, not democracy. -
Roberto Deniz — the Venezuelan reporter who uncovered the epic corruption allegedly masterminded by Alex Saab for ex-dictator Nicolás Maduro — foresees more discovery now that Saab's been extradited again to the U.S. But he still can't return from exile. -
COMMENTARY The fact that Cuban leader Raúl Castro likely deserves his U.S. indictment for killing exiles in 1996 is exactly why President Trump will likely have big trouble removing him in 2026. -
After winning the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for 'Cuba: An American History,' exile scholar Ada Ferrer takes a more intimate dive into the Cuban experience with 'Keeper of My Kin', a poignant memoir — and a triumph of immigrant research. -
If the U.S. indicts Cuba's de facto, 94-year-old leader for ordering the fatal 1996 downing of unarmed Cuban exile planes, does it signal a U.S. military mission like the one that captured Venezuela's indicted dictator this year? -
The State Department is reiterating that the U.S. is ready to deliver the aid through the Roman Catholic Church and other NGOs. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants to see what it calls “meaningful” political and economic liberalization in Cuba. -
COMMENTARY To observe Haitian Flag Day on May 18, the members of Haiti's political and business elite who've sponsored violent gangs could reflect on the possibly irreparable damage they've done. -
COMMENTARY In Venezuela and Cuba, President Trump risks repeating the miscalculation he's made in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz — thinking bold strikes automatically yield regime change. -
A Meganálisis survey of Venezuelans in-country shows almost 90% disapprove of President Trump's backing of interim President Delcy Rodríguez — the Maduro dictatorship holdover who they say is doing too little steer Venezuela back to democracy and prosperity. -
A new report by the libertarian Cato Institute shows Trump administration arrests of Cuban migrants has skyrocketed since last year — while approval of their green card requests under the Cuban Adjustment Act has dropped 100%. -
COMMENTARY Florida U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick's resignation leaves Haitian-Americans with no presence in Congress — and a bigger need to get serious about filling the void.
