Marcelo Mendieta

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Marcelo Mendieta, born José Luis Marcelo Ventecol Mendieta on January 16, 1937, in Orán, Salta, Argentina, is a longtime Argentine journalist. He grew up in Salta and later moved with his family to Jujuy in 1943. At 13 he began working with LW8 Radio Jujuy and later wrote for local papers Jujuy, Libertad and Pregón. He briefly worked as a rural schoolteacher in 1956 before returning to journalism.

In 1958 he moved to Buenos Aires, joining the Saporiti news agency and the editorial staff of Correo de la Tarde, and in 1959 he joined La Nación, where he worked until 1984. After leaving La Nación, he continued as a freelance journalist, reporting from Latin America, the United States, Europe, the Middle East and China. He also served as a Buenos Aires correspondent for several radio stations between 1972 and 1975.

Mendieta lectured on art, poetry and literature from 1967 to 1992, and a 1992 lecture on the media’s responsibility in self-medication was published by the Academia Nacional de Medicina. He was press advisor to Tomás Orstein of Coca-Cola (1978–1982) and later international press advisor to the René Favaloro Foundation (from 1994). He directed Temas Edición Internacional (1980–1999), co-directed Argentina Internacional (1999–2002), and led ArgentinaUniversal.info (2000–2007). Since 2007 he has edited Personalidades del Arte Universal, a bilingual directory of artists. In 1999 he co-authored Nicolás Cócaro, periodista with Silvia Vernengo Prack and has received several awards for his journalism, including second place in the 1964 ADEPA National Prize for “El Vía Crucis del Trámite.” He is the father of journalist Marcelo Mendieta Jr. and lawyer María Esther Beatriz Ventecol.