Oscar J. Reyes, a native of Honduras and longtime editor of El Pregonero, died March 12. He was 88.
Reyes joined the Spanish-language El Pregonero, the oldest Hispanic publication in the Washington metropolitan area, in January 1985, when it began operating under the management of Carroll Publishing, a subsidiary of the Washington archdiocese. The following year he became editor, serving in the post until his retirement in 2005.
Reyes’ journalism career began as a reporter for a student newspaper in high school. He also lived in Nicaragua, where he studied journalism at the National University and became editor of the newspaper La Noticia and assistant editor of La Prensa.
Reyes, who held a master’s degree in mass communication, served as a professor at the School of Journalism of the National Autonomous University of Honduras, which he founded.
Reyes was exiled in 1982 after he and his wife, Gloria, were tortured by Honduran military operatives. They and their two children were granted asylum in the United States.
Reyes filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in Miami against the leader of the Honduran military intelligence service at the time of his torture and won. As with many newcomers, Reyes began working in a 7-Eleven store upon arriving in the U.S., then cleaning office buildings, translating, and teaching Spanish, before joining El Pregonero.
In 2005, he was honored with the St. Francis de Sales Award, the highest recognition from the Catholic Press Association, now the Catholic Media Association. Upon receiving the award, Reyes said he was “very proud” of the recognition the award gives to El Pregonero and to “the team that made this possible.”
Reyes and his family have been registered members of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Vienna since 2000, and Reyes was at the church days before he died.
Carlos Cabán, former editor of El Tiempo Latino, said Reyes was “A great journalist dedicated to the Latino community in DC.”
Isabel Acosta, community leader of the Peruvian community in Washington, said she would always remember his “kindness and sense of justice.”
