Mr. Rafael Prieto Zartha is the editorial director of Qué Pasa-Mi Gente newspaper of Charlotte, N.C. He writes a weekly column that is distributed and published nationally on immigration and other relevant issues related to the Hispanic community. During his thirty years of journalistic experience in the United States he has worked in print, television, internet and news agencies.

He worked for various major U.S. Spanish-language media operations around the country, including EFE (the leading Spanish-language news agency and the fourth largest news agency in the world), Univision, CBS TeleNoticias, ECO-Televisa, Telemundo, Canal de Noticias NBC, Nuestro Tiempo (a bilingual publication of the Los Angeles Times), Noticias del Mundo and La Opinión, the largest U.S. Spanish-language newspaper.

Originally from Colombia, he has lived in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Washington and Charlotte.
Mr. Prieto won the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ (NAHJ) first-place award for print-commentary in 2007, an honor attain by writers from The New York Times, The Miami Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Detroit News. In their statement the judges said: “Rafael Prieto Zartha responded to those who sought to demonize undocumented immigrants with wit and undisputable facts.

He took on ultra-conservative radio talk show hosts, politicians and prominent national figures, making a courageous and passionate defense for those who left their native homelands and settled in the Deep South in search of a better life.”

Also, he earned the National Association of Hispanic Publications’ (NAHP) José Martí Bronze award for editorial column writing in 2007 and 2008. Locally, The Charlotte Observer and the Creative Loafing published his opinion pieces. The Charlotte Observer selected him as one of the “Seven to Watch in 2008” an annual selection of the city’s most influential opinion-makers.