MEXICO CITY, Fernando Gonzalez has died in Havana. He was a prolific reporter and director for The Associated Press throughout Latin America.
Gonzalez, 60, died Monday morning after suffering a heart attack.
Gonzalez, a tireless organizer of help for colleagues who were injured or ill, was a seemingly inexhaustible and gregarious reporter.
“Fernando was the best of AP. Julie Pace, AP Executive Editor, said that Fernando was a brilliant journalist who loved big stories. He was also a caring and warm colleague, whose influence was felt in all parts of the company. He will be greatly missed.”
Gonzalez was born in Uruguay and graduated from high school in Santiago (Chile) before attending the University of Miami. After working for a local radio station, Gonzalez moved into news production and often freelanced for The Associated Press Latin America.
Gonzalez joined the AP in 2002, as a senior producer for television news in Havana. In 2014, Gonzalez moved to Washington, D.C. as the regional video editor for Latin America, the Caribbean, and in 2016 to Mexico City to become the AP’s deputy director of news for the region. Gonzalez was appointed news director for the Caribbean, Andes in Cuba in 2020.
He covered the hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Peru in 1996, Hurricane Mitch’s devastating effect on Central America 1998 and 2004 coup that overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide as Haitian President.
Gonzalez was in Antarctica reporting on the 2007 visit of U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Gonzalez also covered three papal visits to Cuba by Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis. He also covered President Barack Obama’s historic 2016 visit and the death later that year of Fidel Castro.
“He was a very good person and very charming so he could get into places others might consider challenging — a true raconteur.amiable and smart,” stated Chris Gillette, senior video producer at the AP Brazil and a high-school classmate of Gonzalez.
His wife Lisa, his children Maria Linda, Nicolas, and his three grandchildren are his survivors.
