AP names Mike Warren to new South America post

Michael Warren, deputy Latin America editor of The Associated Press, has been named to a new position overseeing AP operations in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay - the Southern Cone region of South America.

Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski made the announcement Friday.

Warren, who during a 21-year career has led coverage in California, Latin America and the Caribbean, will be based in Buenos Aires and direct staff in the four countries. He reports to Latin America Editor Niko Price.

As Southern Cone bureau chief, he will report and write about a resource-rich region whose economies provide key commodities to the world and where traditional U.S. political and economic influence is being challenged by countries such as China and Venezuela.

"Mike Warren has been at the heart of the AP's dynamic Latin America coverage these last four years as an editor," Daniszewski said. "This new assignment brings his keen eye as a reporter to a region being buffeted by the world recession and by shifts in South America's political landscape."

Assigned to Mexico City since 2005, Warren helped pioneer the AP's regional editing desk there and oversaw stories including civil unrest and natural disasters, economic and social upheaval and the political transformation from dictatorships to democracy across South and Central America and in the Caribbean.

Warren joined the AP in 1988 in Indianapolis and became a staff writer in Miami before leaving to serve in the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan.

He returned to the AP in 1993 at the national desk in New York, then became a founding editor of ABCNews.com in 1997. He rejoined AP in 1998 in San Francisco as news editor for northern California, serving for seven years until his appointment as deputy Latin America editor.

Warren, 44, is an Indiana native who graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in English literature and a master's in journalism.