Andrés Oppenheimer, selected by Foreign Policy en Español as “one of the 50 most influential Latin American intellectuals,” is a columnist for The Miami Herald, host of the CNN en Español program Oppenheimer Presenta, and the author of eight best-selling books. His column, The Oppenheimer Report, is regularly published in more than 60 newspapers, including The Miami Herald (United States), La Nación (Argentina), El Mercurio (Chile), El Comercio (Peru), and Reforma (Mexico).
Oppenheimer was a co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 as part of the The Miami Herald team that uncovered the Iran-Contra scandal. He has also received the two most prestigious awards in Spanish-language journalism: the Ortega y Gasset Award from Spain’s El País newspaper (1993), and the King of Spain Award, presented by the EFE news agency and the King of Spain (2001). He additionally received the María Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University (1998), the Overseas Press Club Award from the Overseas Press Club of Washington, D.C. (2002), and the Suncoast Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2005).
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he began his studies at the University of Buenos Aires and moved to the United States in 1976 on a World Press Institute scholarship to continue his education at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1978, he earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York. Oppenheimer has received honorary doctorates from Galileo University in Guatemala (2004), Domingo Savio University in Bolivia (2011), ESAN University in Peru (2014), and Siglo 21 University in Argentina (2022).
He served as bureau chief for The Miami Herald in Mexico, Colombia, and Central America. Previously, he worked for five years at The Associated Press in New York and has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, CBS News, and the BBC in London. He has interviewed, among many others, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Hugo Chávez, Daniel Ortega, Bill Gates, and nearly every Latin American president.
His book ¡Sálvese Quien Pueda! (“The Robots Are Coming!”) on the future of work in the age of automation, became the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller in Mexico, Argentina, and several other countries. His previous books—focused on innovation, education, competitiveness, and corruption—include Innovate or Die! The Hope of Latin America and the Five Keys to Innovation; Enough History! Latin America’s Obsession with the Past and the 12 Keys to the Future; Chinese Stories: The Washington Deception, the Populist Lie, and the Hope of Latin America; and Blindfolded: The United States and the Business of Corruption in Latin America. His books have been published in Spanish, English, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
Crónicas de Héroes y Bandidos (“Chronicles of Heroes and Bandits”) is a collection of long-form journalism from several Latin American countries over the past two decades and ranked among the top-selling books in multiple countries in the region.
His book Mexico: Bordering on Chaos (Javier Vergara Publishing) was selected by The Los Angeles Times as one of the best books of 1996. The Los Angeles Times described it as “required reading” to understand modern Mexico.
His book Castro’s Final Hour (Javier Vergara Publishing) was described by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post as “a spectacular work of reporting, investigation, and observation,” and by The Dallas Morning News as “the definitive book on Cuba in the last decade.”
How to Get Out of the Well! is Andrés Oppenheimer’s latest work, a timely exploration of why frustration and unhappiness are growing worldwide despite economic progress. Blending global reporting, data, and storytelling, he challenges traditional ideas of success and offers fresh, practical insights on well-being, purpose, and the future of societies.
Oppenheimer was selected by Forbes Media Guide as one of the “500 most influential journalists” in the United States and by Poder magazine as one of the 100 “most powerful” figures in Latin America. In 2003, the French newspaper Le Monde stated that Oppenheimer “occupies a unique place in the press of the Americas,” as his journalism “sets the agenda for inter-American political debate.”
