As a producer Alvear covered many major news stories; among them, the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980s, the Mexico City earthquake in 1985, protests and elections in Chile and Peru, the War on Drugs in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, the Mengele investigation in Brazil, unrest in Panama, two interviews with Fidel Castro in Cuba, the Pan American Games in Havana, the Barcelona Olympics, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation rebellion in Chiapas, the Colosio assassination, and events that have affected the Los Angeles area in recent years: riots, earthquakes and the O. J. Simpson trial.