MCALLEN, Texas - The former editor and publisher of El Periódico USA has launched a new binational Spanish language media project called Debate X Media, LLC.

The plan, says Jose Luis B. Garza, is to highlight the potential and accomplishments of the Hispanic population in the Rio Grande Valley and become a binational news agency.

“We have to project the importance of this region because it's totally different to other regions in the country,” Garza said.

In an in-depth audio interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Garza spoke about his time at El Periódico USA, the growth of Hispanic-owned news media publications, and his plans for Debate X.

El Periódico USA is a newspaper published in McAllen that initiated in 1986, focusing on the South Texas community.

Jose Luis Garza worked at El Periódico USA, initially as an advisor and worked his way up the media company.

“They gave me a lot of satisfaction, experiences and big opportunities to understand how the Spanish media works in this country,” Garza said. “Initially around the 90s, the Hispanic population, Hispanic marketing, Hispanic publications, were not so important. But after that, soon we were growing in the country.”

Garza said the growth of Hispanic publications allowed him to participate with the National Association of Hispanic Publications, an advocacy organization for Spanish language publications. He said he was vice president of the organization and national president in 2013.

Garza was born in Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Mexico and said many people from his birthplace are now living in the Rio Grande Valley. He was previously chairman of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s International Committee.

After leaving El Periodico USA, Garza said he founded Debate X, an agency for expanding Hispanic news coverage. He said his company strives to give advice to other newspapers and he has the support of his family and friends on the project. He said he chose the name of the news agency, Debate X, because it translates the same in both English and Spanish.

Garza will be working on the project with Luis Cantu, former vice president for international business and community development for McAllen Chamber of Commerce.

“We are reporting, we are doing work on both sides of the world,” Garza said. “This is a national project.”

Garza said he founded Debate X after leaving El Periodico USA because his company strives to give advice to other expanding news companies in the form of a news agency. He said he met with about 15 congressmen at the end of April in Washington D.C., and spoke with the communications team at the White House. Garza said Congress was receptive to Debate X’s plans to play an active role in aiding the Hispanic newspaper community.

“We need to let the rest of the country, the rest of Texas, Mexico, know who we are, what we are doing, and the potential of this area,” Garza said. “This is an extraordinary area, we have problems like any other ones, but we have extraordinary opportunities here.”

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