Frank Levine, journalist

I've been a print journalist for most of my life, specializing in Mexico and Central America. During the 70s and 80s, I covered the revolutionary movements in Mexico, and the civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador, eventually, becoming City Editor of The Mexico City News. Among assignments over nearly three decades, I worked for La Jornada, Proceso, El Sol, Interpress, and the Associated Press. I most often worked as a staff reporter, although I did some freelance work, especially for Mexican publications. My background also includes working as a staff reporter for the San Antonio Light (now the Express News), reporter and City Editor for the Laredo Morning Times, and Assistant City Editor of the San Juan Star. A broader and deeper perspective on my background will be presented in future posts, including humble contributions to radical and underground media.
I have always been a progressive journalist, even while working for the Establishment Press. I quickly learned, however, that it was necessary to write between the lines to get the truth out. Eventually, however, by the early 90s, even that wasn't enough as the consolidation of corporate media power forced me to finally admit that I could no longer work within the system. My cover was blown, and there was little room for Old School progressive journalists in the "New Media Order."Over the next few months, I hope to post some of the stories I wrote while covering politics and war in Latin America. Some of the stories were written years before the mainstream media grabbed on to them. Many are still relevant today. Among them are stories of massacres in Guatemala, the protection of Cuban terrorists by the U.S. Government, the Underground Empire of organized crime and governments.
I have been very fortunate to have met and interviewed many of the current players on both sides of the "Law," including presidents of nations and so-called drug lords and revolutionaries. I have also met and traveled with the guerrillas in Central America, Sierra Leone, West Africa, and Mexico. Some of the new stories, analyses, and sources posted here can be found nowhere else.

Frank Levine, Austin, Texas