Sun-Sentinel en Español In Broward County.

Sun-Sentinel Company has announced plans to publish a weekly Spanish language newspaper to serve Broward County’s growing Hispanic population beginning in October.

El Sentinel will include local news and information, as well as national and international news from South and Central America, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and other nations of key interest to Broward County’s Hispanic community. It will feature coverage of local events, community news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and will have an opinion page. El Sentinel’s content will also be available on an accompanying Web site.

“Broward County’s Hispanic population has tripled since 1990 according to the 2000 Census,” said Sun-Sentinel Company President Bob Gremillion. “We believe el Sentinel will help serve the news and information needs of this growing audience and help us to continue to reflect our increasingly diverse marketplace.”

The editor of el Sentinel will be Deborah Ramirez, who is joining el Sentinel after serving most recently as an editorial writer and columnist for the Sun-Sentinel. Ramirez, who has been with the Sun-Sentinel since 1992, holds a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico. Before joining the Sun-Sentinel, Ramirez served as a reporter and assistant city editor at the San Juan Star, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

El Sentinel will draw on the resources of the Sun-Sentinel, including its news bureaus in San Juan and Havana, Cuba. The Sun-Sentinel is the only South Florida newspaper with full-time news bureaus in Puerto Rico and Cuba. In addition, el Sentinel will publish news from its sister papers, including Orlando’s El Sentinel, Hoy in New York, Exito in Chicago and La Opinion in Los Angeles.

El Sentinel will be distributed free on Saturdays to targeted Hispanic households and will also be available in racks throughout Broward County. Distribution will be approximately 60,000 copies weekly.

El Sentinel will include local and national advertising. Hernan Ponce, Sun-Sentinel’s national advertising manager, whose 23-year newspaper industry career includes extensive experience in Hispanic marketing, will oversee sales efforts. “Our advertisers have been vocal regarding the marketing need to be able to reach the Hispanic population in Broward and we are happy to be able to fulfill that need with el Sentinel.”