Journalism was always present in his life. At age 14, Javier Moreno Barber already bought the newspapers, but the road led him to become a degree in Chemical Sciences and exercise his career in Germany.
However, the taste for the journalistic office led him to look for his place in the Master of Journalism, which is taught at the Autonomous University of Madrid and the country. “I thought they were not going to accept me. Then, I said:“ Well, if they don’t accept me, because I already return to chemistry, without regrets, and I have already tried. They accepted me and that’s it, ”recalls Javier Moreno Barber, journalist and author of the trial book Who commands here? Impotence before the spiral of violence in Mexico and Latin America.
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This destination would take, years later, to be twice as director of the Spanish newspaper, where he was the protagonist of the reception and analysis of the Wikileaks documents, and be the current director of the Master who taught him the routes of the journalistic trade. Today he seeks to give light on the actors of political power through his work.
Since 1994, the journalist began his trips to Mexico, where he was director of El País América, in the period between 2018 and 2020, which allowed him to approach the various realities of Latin America. This was how he realized behaviors and guidelines that are repeated within the violent explosion of crime, which led him to investigate the causes of what happens.
“I am not a street journalist,” says Javier Moreno, who sought to take advantage of his experience and contacts as a manager in a journalistic company to approach former presidents, for example.
My career “has given me access not only to former presidents but to dozens of officials, secretaries, ministers, with which I have talked over 30 years,” he says.
Throughout his career, Javier Moreno has interviewed characters such as Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Simon Perez and Mahmud Ahmadineyad, to mention some.
Journalists are not good people beyond what the legality and 10 commandments of religion send, and how good it is, says Moreno Barber, because these professionals must have a certain dose of distrust and paranoia in the face of the deceptions of power.
Javier Moreno Barber knows that his role as a journalist is to raise his critical voice and put his finger on the sore of power. And do not forget the distressing moments, but also of meditation on the trade and the impact of stories such as Wikileaks in society. Journalism rules here and is more present in the author’s life that found the formula to tell stories.
