Pablo was born in Cartagena, Colombia, in a hospital that to this day uses the beach as a parking lot. Pablo’s mission is to explain details such as this one that reveal the idiosyncrasy of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Growing up, Pablo was obsessed with history and baseball and thought about becoming a lawyer or a baseball coach. Either path seemed good enough to create a positive impact on the lives of others. His passion for asking questions, for understanding people, and for telling stories eventually led him to consider a career in the media, a goal he is still trying to achieve.

Pablo attended Adelphi University in New York and studied political science and journalism. As geographically opposed as it may seem, those four years in New York were exclusively devoted to the study of Latin America. All of his research papers, projects, and free time were devoted to learning and studying more about LATAM. Being away from home and in a world alienated by a pandemic, one could only long for what seemed natural. His obsessive passion for the region had him tracking and following every Latin American presidential election and devouring the dusty Latin America section at the University’s library.

During his college years, Pablo also completed a series of internships that fed his dream of studying Latin America for a living. His first encounter of understanding the perception of Latin America in the eyes of the world came through an internship with the Embassy of the Dominican Republic at the UN. Here, Pablo understood the reality of Latin America in diplomatic circles and how the region fits into the puzzle of geopolitics. He followed this with a summer at the Colombian government’s trade bureau in Miami where he experienced firsthand how Latin American countries compete for a slice of FDI. In his last semester, Pablo interned for a country branding firm. There, he understood the subtleties of soft power and how all countries can use their weaknesses to their advantages without sacrificing their essence/identity.

Besides personal experience, his views have been shaped by the essays of Arturo Uslar Pietri, José Enrique Rodó, and Octavio Paz. Through the ideas of these giants and the doings of our political leaders, he concludes that Latin America wanders in solitude through its own world of magical realism.

Pablo is fascinated by the shared characteristics of Latin American culture and sociology. Everyone, from Mexico to Argentina, from all walks of life, is sharing a story. A charlatan stands in every corner, and seats in every congress.Truly, there is a lot to report in a huge region where everyone has something to say. But where does one start? With the loud leaders or the snobby intellectuals? How about with the random people that paint our lives with color like the talkative cab drivers, the noisy and nosey neighbors, or even the psychologist beauticians?

Young, idealistic, and absolutely quixotic, Pablo is convinced the region is misunderstood and should look more inward than outward to solve its problems. But how do we explain Latin America?

Borges once wrote that being Colombian was an act of faith, then, what does being Latin American mean? Sitting through mass without understanding a thing? Maybe.

When Pablo isn’t writing, he is pretending to work, watching baseball, or making another cup of coffee.