United States Agency for Global Media

Wilfredo Cancio appointed Central News Director for OCB

June 13, 2017

Miami, FL — The Office of Cuba Broadcasting announced today veteran journalist Wilfredo Cancio will join the Martís as Central News Director. In this position, Cancio will manage and supervise news coverage and editorial policies for Radio Martí, TV Martí and Martinoticias.com.

“Wilfredo’s knowledge and expertise will be a tremendous asset in our newsroom, and our journalists will greatly benefit from his leadership,” said Malule González, Director of OCB. “He is well versed with Cuban audiences on island and has unique insight into how to reach them through alternate distribution.”

Cancio, a journalist and professor, is also the founder of “CafeFuerte,” a website that provides Cubans with independent news. He holds a degree in journalism from the Universidad de La Habana and a Ph.D. in Information Sciences from the Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. He taught at the School of Communications at Universidad de La Habana until 1994 when he came to the U.S. as part of a special program of the McArthur Foundation and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 1995 to 1997 he worked at Barry University in Florida and reported from Miami for Radio Bilingüe and the International Press Service (IPS).

In 1998, he started working as a reporter for Miami’s El Nuevo Herald where he covered Cuban affairs for 12 years and served as acting city editor from 2007–2009. Cancio also worked as editorial producer and analyst on Cuban issues for a local Miami TV station, AmericaTeVe and was managing editor of the newspaper Diario Las Américas until 2014. He comes to OCB from Telemundo 51 where he worked as a web editor and editorial producer.

Cancio has received several awards for outstanding reporting by the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP). In 2011, he was selected among the 100 most influential Latino personalities in Miami, according to Fusionarte & the Panamerican Foundation.

Cancio will be replacing seasoned journalist Humberto Castelló, who is retiring after over 30 years of service in the media private sector and six years in government as OCB’S Central News Director. “Wilfredo is the best candidate I can think of to continue supporting our mission,” said Castello.

Cancio will start at the Martís on Monday, June 26.