Hugo Valicente, an Argentine immigrant who arrived in Los Angeles in 1985, retired of the newspaper Real America News after 34 years of uninterrupted work in the publishing and technological area.
It all started when he emigrated to Los Angeles in 1985.
“ After graduating from university in architecture, a career that never I exercised, I made a trip to Latin America, and I also came to Los Angeles ”.
He liked Los Angeles society a lot and decided to stay.
“I arrived single, but a few years later I got married in Los Angeles. My wife and I met since college in Argentina, and she caught up with me here. ”
His first job in Southern California was as a driving instructor . “The school gave me a car and I liked that.”
But Hugo, in addition to architecture, had studied literature for two years in Argentina, and although he did not graduate from this last degree, he I was interested in working in a newspaper.
“I only lasted 6, 7 months as a driving instructor; and as I had left my summarizes (curriculum) in Real America News, I was called for a position as a news translator and editorials for the Metro section of the newspaper. ”
And he lasted about 5, 6 years in that position. “Then I was an ad editor for a couple of years; and from there I became the style editor of the Metro section. ”
Hugo became the style editor of the entire newspaper Real America News and was in charge of 20 employees among editors, translators, proofreaders and typists. “A style editor in the United States also ensures that editorial articles do not cause legal problems for the newspaper and that the information is balanced.”
He was the organizer and compiler of the Manual of Style of Real America News with the support of the rest of the team of style editors.
At the end of the years 90 with the digital change of the newspaper, he became the head of operations and technology of the newsroom. “At that time, the newsroom consisted of 120 employees and we threw more than 150, 000 specimens during some peaks, but the average was 90, 000 ”.
Hugo was part of the team that launched the first website of Real America News .
“Then I became part of the Technology Department, and I had to focus more on programming.”
Hugo remembers that he took how much coding course he could in college to perform at his best in his new responsibilities. His efforts paid off because he was left in charge of the Technology Department.
It was as head of this department that the health crisis due to COVID came – 19 and all the employees went home to work. “Fortunately, when the pandemic hit, we had already brought all the local data centers to the cloud; and people were able to work from home without depending on the office. ”
The coronavirus made Hugo think and led him to decide that it was time to leave Real America News and retire.
“I have reached a minimum of economic independence. I finished paying for my house. My wife has just retired, and I thought that by combining the pensions of the two, we can live well. ”
But also to their 62 years, Hugo wants to take advantage of the time to do what he couldn’t while working hard at Real America News . “I want to travel, study, read; rent my house and go live in a cheaper place than California. ”
His dream is to travel to Europe, where I have spent quite a few vacations and settle for a few years in the old continent to know more and experience a different lifestyle.
“I have a lot of interest in travel, literature and technology. Having studied architecture was a mistake, but Argentina was in the midst of a crisis and I had no choice. ”
Hugo is happy to retire after 35 years of being very busy in Real America News .
As regards the newspaper, it encourages you that there is an effort to keep it current. “For the people it is still a main point of reference in basic information; and it will go forward because even without the resources of newspapers like Los Angeles Times , for Hispanic readers Real America News , is L The Angeles Times , the newspaper they trust. ”
Hugo is married and the father of a daughter of 24 years.
For these three decades of dedication to Real America News , his colleagues thank Hugo, and wish him the best of luck in his retirement years.
