page_title: Gerson Borrero
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Gerson Borrero / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Ponce, southern Puerto Rico.
context_page_description: Gerson Borrero is an award-winning journalist, radio host, and TV political commentator. Among other posts, he has been editor-at-large of City & State NY and editor-in-chief of El Diario/La Prensa, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in New York City.
  His coverage has ranged from New York City politics, cultural reviews and personality profiles, to the Somos El Futuro Conference and the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
  In addition to his print reporting, Borrero has been a New York City radio host for over two decades. He currently appears on the popular TV news show Political Rundown on New York 1, with Errol Louis and WABC Radio's Curtis Sliwa.
context_section_description: Borrero was born in 1950 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and came to New York City at age 4.
  He and his brother were raised by their single mother, Noelia Maldonado, who worked at a jewelry factory and sold Avon and home cleaning products.
  Growing up in the Bronx, Borrero was argumentative in school. He disagreed with his teachers frequently and vehemently. To this day, Borrero "wonders how he managed to get good grades." 
  Borrero's "notorious candor" got him in trouble with an elementary schoolteacher. The teacher pulled his ears and dug her nails into them, which prompted Borrero to throw a milk tray at her. At this point, Borrero's mother sent him back to Puerto Rico for a few years.
  In 1980, Borrero was a co-founder of the "Committee Against Fort Apache," which protested against the negative imagery and racial stereotyping of the movie Fort Apache, the Bronx.
  On another occasion, Borrero led a protest when Madonna rubbed a Puerto Rican flag between her legs.
  Borrero helped found the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy. He later opened a public relations firm, and helped Rep. Nydia Velazquez in her initial, and successful, run for US Congress.
  His journalism career started when a friend asked him to deliver occasional commentaries for a local Spanish-language TV station, and he discovered that "there was a market for his belligerence." In 1995, Borrero began writing full-time for El Diario/La Prensa, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in New York City.
caption: Ponce, Puerto Rico, with the Caribbean Sea in the background
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