Arts & Culture

  1  

Miami, FL--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)--November 29, 2006--Mega TV announced today that its very own Maria Elvira Salazar host of “Polos Opuestos,” sat down with cartoonist José Varela. This will be Varela’s first interview since making headlines last week when he barricaded himself on the 6th floor of The Miami Herald building and declared himself as the publisher of the Spanish daily “El Nuevo Herald.”

In this provocative interview, Varela told Mega TV viewers how he walked into the El Nuevo Herald offices on that fateful Friday afternoon armed with a knife and a plastic toy gun, demanding justice for the Cuban exile community from the “El Nuevo Herald’s” newsroom. He also shared how the SWAT team took him away after he surrendered.

“I never thought my life was in danger,” said Varela. “Yes, I got scared when the SWAT team shut down the lights in the building, but I relaxed when I turned on CNN and saw that they were covering the incident. I knew then that they could not kill me.”

Varela was also joined by radio disc jockeys Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero, morning show hosts of Spanish Broadcasting System’s El Vacilón de la Mañana on El Zol 95.7. Santos and Ferrero collected more than $15,000 dollars from the Miami community to help Varela post bail. The two disc jockeys also shared how they were able to generate that kind of money in just four hours.

Varela goes on to share how he was mistreated by the directive of “El Nuevo Herald.” Varela commented, “They see everything black and white, Bush or Fidel. They don’t see any shades of grey, which is unfortunate because life does not work that way. They would toss away my work; my cartoons were censured. Management’s actions sent the newspaper back to the Stone Age. Throwing away my work was like tearing me to pieces.”

A majority of Mega TV viewers agreed with the actions of Mr. Varela. When asked to vote via phone whether Varela’s actions were heroic or irresponsible, 85% of Mega TV viewers considered Varela a hero, while only 15% considered him irresponsible.

This exclusive interview brought answers to many of the questions considered from that fateful Friday afternoon, reiterating Mega TV’s commitment to serving the South Florida community with up-to-date coverage on the issues that impact the community most.
About Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.
Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. is the largest publicly traded Hispanic-controlled media and entertainment company in the United States. SBS owns and operates 20 radio stations located in the top Hispanic markets of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Puerto Rico, including the #1 Spanish–language radio station in America, WSKQ-FM in New York City, as well as 3 of the Top 4 rated radio stations airing the Tropical, Regional Mexican, Spanish Adult Contemporary and Hurban format genres and the highest billing Latino-formatted stations in each of the three largest U.S. Hispanic markets. The Company also owns and operates Mega TV, a television operation serving the South Florida market, and produces live concerts and events throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, In addition, the Company operates LaMusica.com, a bilingual Spanish-English online site providing content related to Latin music, entertainment, news and culture. The Company’s corporate Web site can be accessed at http://www.spanishbroadcasting.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: A high-resolution image is available at: http://www.hispanicprwire.com/home.php?l=in