Pérez Castellón latest host to leave Miami’s Radio Mambí after Univision finalizes sale

Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a longtime voice of Cuban exiles in Miami, resigned from Radio Mambí this week after the owners of the conservative Spanish-language talk-radio station finalized a deal to sell to a new media group led by Democratic operatives.

Pérez Castellón announced her resignation Tuesday minutes before the end of her program “Ninoska en Mambí,” ending a 26-year run on air. Listeners reacted with sadness, but the decision — coming after TelevisaUnivision closed on a deal to sell more than a dozen Spanish-language stations around the country to startup Latino Media Network — was also applauded by some Miami politicians and personalities who described her as “brave.”

“I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you that this is my last broadcast from this booth that has been my second home for so many years,” Pérez Castellón said on her show. “The new company Latino Media Network has already officially bought Radio Mambí and although Univision will continue to manage the station, I always said that when the sale became official, it was my time to leave.”

When asked by el Nuevo Herald about her decision and her plans for the future, Pérez Castellón declined to comment.

The station’s sale to Latino Media Network has been the source of controversy in Miami since June, when the company announced a pending $60 million deal to purchase 18 TelevisaUnivision stations, most notably Mambí, a mainstay of political debate in Miami’s conservative-leaning Cuban-American community.

Democrats and journalists have claimed that the station’s hosts have spread misinformation in an attempt to promote a conservative agenda. Prominent Republican politicians and pundits, meanwhile, warned that the new ownership group would introduce changes in programming and silence conservative voices in exile. Their warnings often focused on financing that Latino Media Network obtained from Lakestar Finance LLC, a company tied to liberal businessman George Soros, a significant financier of progressive causes.

Paperwork on file with the Federal Communications Commission shows that TelevisaUnivision will continue to manage the station, and Latino Media Network, which boasts a bipartisan group of minority investors and advisors, assures that it remains committed to the “preservation of Radio Mambí as a pillar of the Cuban-American community.”

Asked to comment on Pérez Castellón’s exit, Latino Media Network highlighted the role that the longtime host has played in South Florida for more than two decades as a radio journalist, activist and prominent figure of the Cuban exile community.

“Her loyalty to Radio Mambí listeners and to democracy and freedom are unmatched and her voice will forever be remembered as a great part of Miami history. While we hoped to work with her to continue advancing her legacy at Radio Mambí, we support her decision and wish her the best in her new endeavors,” Latino Media Network said.

In its own statement, TelevisaUnivision thanked Pérez Castellón “for her valuable work, contributions and professionalism while working at Radio Mambí. On behalf of TelevisaUnivision, we honor her legacy and wish Ninoska the best in her future endeavors.”

Pérez Castellón said in her last program on the station that she carried out her work with passion and denounced “the liberal press,” an apparent reference to criticisms by journalists of the body of work by the station’s hosts.

READ MORE: How partisan angst, conspiracies thrive in Miami’s Spanish-language media echo chamber

“I have faced great powers with the strength of my word and the truth in my hand, always especially in the case of Cuba. While the mainstream media have given the regime’s official version, I have been able to show that big interests have prevailed,” she said.

She said she has chosen to be on the side of the victims, and that is why she defends the “vilified Cuban radio that bothers so many and I will continue to do so over and over again despite the racist and smear campaigns whose sole purpose is to silence not only us, but you as well.”

“For me it is important to continue being the voice that has informed, entertained, guided and encouraged you,” said the journalist, who was a past spokesperson for the Cuban American National Foundation and founded the Council for the Freedom of Cuba.

Pérez Castellón is the most recent of the well-known Radio Mambí hosts to resign since Latino Media Network announced its acquisition of the station. Previously, Nelson Rubio, Lourdes Ubieta and Dania Alexandrino left. The host said that her resignation was not a final farewell, but she did not disclose her future plans.

‘Silence the exile’

Prominent members of Miami’s Cuban exile community celebrated the journalist and spoke out against the station’s sale following Pérez Castellón’s announcement.

Sylvia Iriondo, president of the organization Madres por Cuba, told el Nuevo Herald that the resignation of Pérez Castellón was to be expected given the “very aggressive campaign to silence the voices of the Cuban exile community and the values that we support, with the purchase of Radio Mambí” by a company related to Soros.

“She had to resign because when you have principles, you have to uphold them, and she has been an extraordinary voice of the truth about the Cuban reality and that truth is what they want to silence,” said Iriondo.

U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Miami, congratulated Pérez Castellón and stressed that the journalist defended her principles.

Salazar, who worked for decades in Miami as a journalist, highlighted that Pérez Castellón had a “magnificent” 26-year career at Radio Mambí and called her the “moral reference of the conservative group within the Cuban exile.”

“Ninoska represents the best of our exile, the dignity of a community that doesn’t sell itself to the highest bidder,” she said on her Twitter account.

Cuban singer Willy Chirino also spoke out, saying that the journalist dedicated many years and effort to the cause of Cuba.

“I know that your work will continue until the day we manage to reach our free land,” he expressed on Pérez Castellón’s Instagram account.

This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 11:57 AM.