About

Robert Valencia is a multilingual communications and public affairs professional with more than 16 years of experience advancing policy change, managing international media portfolios, and shaping public narrative across the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.

He currently serves as Public Affairs and Communications Strategist for Latino Outreach at Earthjustice, one of the nation’s most prominent environmental law organizations. In that role, he co-led the public affairs strategy that secured more than $1 billion in federal rooftop solar investment for low- and moderate-income households in Puerto Rico — among the largest federal environmental equity investments for U.S. Latino communities — plus an additional $156 million through the Department of Energy’s Inflation Reduction Act. He was also a core member of the integrated communications and litigation team that secured the temporary shutdown of the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades in August 2025, facilitating journalism icon Jorge Ramos‘s on-site access to interview Earthjustice clients and attorneys to ensure national coverage captured both the environmental hazards and migrant rights dimensions of the case.

He has also led Spanish-language communications for New York City’s congestion pricing program on behalf of Earthjustice and its clients, and delivered binational communications strategy training to staff of the Rio Grande International Study Center at their inaugural air quality council on the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

He has become one of the most visible Latino voices in international media, with more than 800 expert appearances over 13 years on CNN en Español, Al Jazeera English, Telemundo, Univision, C-SPAN, NTN24, France 24, Spain’s RTVE, NPR’s Latino USA, Public Radio International, Sirius XM, and outlets across South America and Europe — as an invited analyst and commentator, not merely an organizational spokesperson. He has provided live analysis of some of the most consequential events of the past decade, from the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol to the U.S. strikes in Caracas and the seizure of Nicolás Maduro in 2026.

Other notable TV appearances include:
— President Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
— Live analysis of the September 11th’s 20th anniversary
— New York Governor Andrew Cuomo‘s resignation
— The 2020 Democratic National Convention and Election Day results
— Live coverage of the 2016 election and inauguration of President Donald Trump
— Analysis of the 69th U.N. General Assembly
— The funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in 2013
— Live coverage of the U.S. Embassy’s 2015 reopening in Havana, Cuba.

Previously, Robert served as Deputy World Editor at Newsweek, where he built and led a cross-Atlantic editorial team covering global security, NATO, China, Latin America, and drug policy. He conducted exclusive interviews with Colombian President Gustavo Petro — whose interview, in which he called Maduro a “dictator,” made news across nine countries — as well as Mexican President Vicente Fox, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló, and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz in the aftermath of Hurricane María.

As a Freelance Foreign Correspondent based in Rio de Janeiro, he filed dispatches for Public Radio International, NPR’s Latino USA, Al Jazeera English, and World Politics Review — conducting key interviews in conversational Brazilian Portuguese, including with activists and Marielle Franco’s spouse on the first anniversary of her assassination.

He has worked closely with Global Voices and CONNECTAS — a network of more than 150 journalists across the Western Hemisphere — and his policy writing has been formally cited by the Congressional Research Service, Brookings Institution, Harvard National Security Journal, Yale Journal of International Law, Oxford University Press, and the U.S. Army War College. Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari cited his work in a published book on hemispheric policy.

Robert was selected as a fellow of the U.S.-Spain Council’s 2023 Hispanic Leaders Program, engaging Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the EU Secretariat, BBVA, and Instituto Cervantes. He is a Member of the National Press Club, a National Urban Fellow (CUNY-Baruch, MPA, Top 10%), and a 2025 Top 100 Miami Hispanic Innovative Leader. He is also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).

He holds a Master of Public Administration from CUNY-Baruch College (graduated Top 10%), a Master of Arts in Public Relations from Iona University (graduated with Honors), and dual degrees in International Relations and Communications from Florida International University, with minors in French and Geography and a Certificate in Latin American Studies.

(Photos courtesy of Fundación Consejo España-EE.UU. / Nacho Gómez)