Jairo Vargas

Jairo Vargas (born c. 1947 in Colombia) is the founder and publisher of Latino News.

Vargas practiced as an engineer in Colombia. He decided to immigrate to the United States after visiting in 1996 to see his son graduate. He was living in Gadsden when he sought the advice of Father Kevin Cooke at St James Catholic Church about starting a church newsletter for Spanish-speaking parishioners. Cooke encouraged him to fill a larger need for a community newspaper. Since its founding, the weekly Latino News has grown to serve more than 12,500 readers in 14 counties, with affiliates in two other states. The company also publishes a Latino Yellow Pages Directory, highlighting businesses that serve the Hispanic and Latino community.

References

• Van der Bijl, Hanno (September 14, 2017) "How this Bham exec built a media empire from scratch." Birmingham Business Journal