Maria Laria

1988 - Maria Laria creates the first "Most Wanted" Series in Spanish resulting in the capture of six fugitives. 1989 - Maria Laria's Show inspires the need and creation of an International Organization for Missing Adults. 1989 - Maria Laria is the first U.S. Spanish-language journalist to produce a live remote from a psychiatric ward to interview ten severely disturbed mental health patients and their doctors. 1989 - Maria Laria produces a prime-time special denouncing the discriminatory practices of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors resulting in the appointment of the first Hispanic woman, G1oria Molina as a City Council Official. 1989-91 - Maria Laria hosts and produces a series of the most controversial figures of the Americas, including exclusive interviews with the United States President George Bush, Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Salvadorean President Alfredo Cristiani, and Cuban freedom fighters Huber Matos and Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo. 1989-9l - Maria Laria hosts a yearly Christmas Special featuring the "Plight of the Homeless". resulting in a massive public support to grant jobs, housing, food and toys. 1990 - Pope John Paul II grants an exclusive interview to Maria Laria as part of a one-hour special taped on location at the Vatican.