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Reyes Brought News In Spanish To Exile Community

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The Associated Press

Published: January 5, 2008

MIAMI - Manolo Reyes, who provided news in Spanish to South Florida's Cuban exile community long before Spanish-language TV networks became popular, died Thursday. He was 83.

The cause of his death was not available, according to the Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home in Miami's Little Havana, which was coordinating his funeral preparations.

Reyes was one of the region's first Spanish-language newscasters. In early 1968, he asked news directors at the English-language station WTVJ in Miami to let him offer a Spanish newscast for the exiles streaming in to South Florida, according to The Miami Herald.

They agreed, and he remained on the air for 18 years, eventually becoming director of Latin American news.

After Reyes left the station, he became an executive with Mercy Hospital, where he worked until he retired in 2005.

Reyes was a Cuban native who graduated from the University of Havana Law School before coming to the United States, and he volunteered throughout his life to help Cuban exiles and their children adjust to their adopted country, according to a news release from the hospital issued at the time of his retirement.

He is survived by his wife, three children, and multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass was scheduled for Friday at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Miami, followed by a burial service at Woodlawn Park Cemetery in Little Havana.

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