Mónica Delta, four decades of journalism: reporter, war correspondent, news anchor and more

Delta Parodi was born in Chimbote, facing the sea. She had a childhood full of love and precious moments, although with a great absence that shaped her path from a very early age. Her father died when she was just four years old. “It was there that we discovered that we had a super warrior and brave mother, she raised five children. One of my brothers passed away recently. My mom also left”, recalls the journalist with regret.

_Is it true that before being a journalist you wanted to be a singer?

Singing was my passion. My father’s family was always linked to the piano, singing and gatherings with guitar and cajon. When I arrived at university I joined the group Jueves, I sang there, we dedicated ourselves to cultivating Peruvian music. I’m not a frustrated singer, but I am nostalgic. When I need balance in my life I appeal to song and the sea.

—How do you get to Panamericana TV?

I showed up for an internship with several classmates from the university. Curiously, I spent two weekends practicing and on the third they offered me a job as a reporter. I was about to turn 22 when I entered, I had not yet finished university. It was in 1982, Fernando Belaúnde’s government was entering its third year.

—Did any report mark you?

I did the last interview with Belaúnde as ruler, and the last in his life. I also did a collaborative report for Panorama, when I was not yet part of the program. It was called The Park of Needles. It was precisely the most complicated time in Europe regarding heroin consumption. All those who had practically lost their enthusiasm for life gathered in that place, and all they did was inject heroin until they died. It seemed like the last circle of hell. And at the worst moment of the fight against terrorism, I was deployed to Ayacucho, I had to escape from shootings, I have seen piles of dead people, those are things that remain in your retina and in your soul.

—After being a reporter they suggest you host “24 Horas”, later, Panorama. How do you remember that stage?

They made me host the news with the greatest of the greats: Humberto Martínez Morosini. We were two generations. I learned a lot about camera handling, improvisation, the meaning of the word and its power. It was also the time of Pablo de Madalengoitia, one of the great stars in Panamericana. It was my great school, a 22-year apprenticeship. I’ve been there for good things and hard things too. And they asked me to enter Panorama because of Roxana Canedo, who was in poor health. We started with a very interesting team, headed by Eduardo Guzmán, it was an extraordinary experience, I was there for about seven years.

—Then you traveled to the United States to start from scratch. What motivated that big change?

I left in a very complicated situation, personally, because I was getting divorced, also professionally because Genaro Delgado Parker joined the channel, and I knew that I had no place there. I couldn’t go anywhere else either because I had problems with the current president, Alejandro Toledo. I even left without my last salary. A very dear friend from school took me shelter in her basement. [ríe]. I studied English for six to seven hours a day, and after 4 or 5 months I got a job on a radio program for the Latin American audience. Then, once a week, he did radio programs on Univision about the political reality in the United States. It was a challenging, but interesting experience.

—You also worked as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a political analyst in the White House and Congress. How was that experience?

It was very contradictory because you were scared to death, it was during the George Bush government. They called me from the State Department through the Secretariat, they wanted me to go because there was a very important group of soldiers and military personnel who were Latin Americans stationed in Iraq, they wanted the vision from the point of view of Latin America. I stayed for a month, we saw the danger up close, we went to military operations dressed as soldiers and you were exposed to whatever could happen. Before traveling I had to sign a commitment that I would not sue the US government if something happened to me, and I had to buy life insurance to protect my family. In the White House and Congress, my work was political opinion, and there politics moves between Democrats and Republicans. I did radio and television, I learned a lot.

—Did you miss the popularity, the fame?

I never took fame seriously, and that helped. Not only was my mother strong, she also had superior emotional intelligence. She always told me: ‘You are mortal like the Greeks and Romans, don’t get up from the floor because the floor is the most even thing you will find.’ And it’s true. Fame must be taken with gratitude because it brings privileges, in the sense that people recognize you, but you should not give it so much importance.

—In the United States did you find what you went looking for?

I found my peace of mind, which is wonderful; but I found it after having had the necessary experience, so everything has a reason. I firmly believe that things happen when they have to happen. I found love, I met my husband, a person who cared little if he was popular, famous or not, he had probably read it, but he hadn’t felt it until he came to Peru. He gave up everything to be with me. It was the balance he needed at that moment. Here he realized what it means to be the center of attention, but I was already different.

—In what way were you different?

When you are younger you have the need to reach out, encompass, and take everything with a speed that sometimes does not allow you to feel that life is passing away. You have to enjoy it in the simplest and simplest sense. I enjoy a hummingbird, a tree, the sea, I come to work by bicycle, when I’m not on television I ride around. The experience is in life itself, we must simplify it.

—What brought you back to Peru?

When I was in the United States, my mother was diagnosed with a very serious illness, the same as Pedrito Suárez Vértiz (bulbar palsy). The doctor told me that she only had two years to live, and she couldn’t communicate with me because she couldn’t speak anymore. I came to visit her and one day, in a restaurant, I met Baruch Ivcher. He sent me a note, he wanted to talk to me about work. We talked, reached an agreement, and from that the possibility of returning to Peru opened up. In 2009 I joined Latina, and I have been here for almost 15 years. I came to open the morning schedule. I drove with Aldo Mariátegui “First thing in the morning”. After a few months I moved on to prime time, at night, then came “Sin mediatastas” and “Punto Final”, which turns 15 this April 19. It has a super team, very capable, professional, rigorous, demanding. I feel proud of that. We have achieved credibility.

—The same year you joined Latina you released “Minutos before 8”, a book that closes a difficult stage of your life, of invented romances, among other things. When do you start writing it?

In the United States, in my great moments of nostalgia, I have had moments of a lot of crying because it is not easy to change my life from one day to the next, to start from scratch with a girl. My son goes later, when he finishes school. I started writing as a way of catharsis, because I didn’t have the money to go to a psychologist. [ríe]. I didn’t intend it to be a book, but to close a stage, I felt the need to give my version because everyone was talking about this and that, and lie after lie. I was very honest in the book.

—Writing an autobiography is somehow jarring. How did he leave you?

It left me exhausted [ríe], forced me to remember a series of things, and I think it was worth it because sometimes you don’t realize what’s happening, your mistakes and mistakes, this maelstrom that is being permanently at racing speed in a medium. complex, difficult, linked to power. We are privileged, we are listening to power, but we have to learn, know what the politicians’ motivations are, and be in an equidistant place, exactly to get closer to have the information, and move away so that it doesn’t burn you. When you stay in a cloud, things are different, it can be very complicated. Throughout these 42 years of working in television, I have seen people who couldn’t get up when they left the glamor and that feeling of success.

—When you launched the book, were you still married to Roberto Reátegui?

I had been separated for several years, when we finished the divorce proceedings is when I left for the United States.

—Did the rumors of a romance with Alan García affect your life?

I got married in 1985, I was a little girl, but at that time no one said it openly. It was difficult, although I have always been calm in my reactions, but the procession takes place inside and, of course, that affects many things.

—Did it affect your marriage?

It affected my communication in my marriage. My marriage had problems that are neither fit nor worth telling. I have enormous affection for the father of my children. If I had to choose a father I would choose him again. He was part of my family, it was a college love that later became a marriage; But instead of people caring about that, they should care about not dragging your children down when facing a separation. Two intelligent heads do that, and Roberto and I are very proud of that.

—In your book you acknowledge that you were able to handle the situation better thanks to Magaly warning you that an ampay from Roberto and Mávila Huertas would emerge.

That’s right, Magaly warned me. I had the opportunity to speak with him (Roberto). And it would be a lie to say that my children were not affected at the time because a divorce is complicated like any sentimental and emotional failure in life. When Magaly tells me, we try to reduce my children’s suffering as much as possible. I felt very sorry for them, later I found out that they were subjected to some type of bullying.

—And did the ampay affect you?

Honestly, I don’t watch shows of that nature, and I say that with complete sincerity. Here (in Latina) they laugh a lot when they talk to me about shows, and I’m on the street. When it comes to a news situation, someone has to give me quick classes. But I couldn’t say that it didn’t affect me, because it was on everyone’s lips and in all the newspapers.. Luckily at that time there were no social networks.

—How has your experience been adapting to new social platforms?

I must confess that at first I resisted, and sincerely I saw reality and those who do not adapt die. I started managing Twitter (X) and now Instagram. I don’t understand TikTok very well. It is a different world, but you have to adapt, but like the sea, the waves carry you. I like challenges. I’m in “Habla SERIOUS” with Santiago Gómez, a digital program that airs every Sunday.

—What journalistic work fills you with the greatest pride?

“Panorama” and “Punto Final” marked me, they are my great loves.

—The interview you did with Gustavo Adrianzén was a trend.

How barbaric [ríe]. I only ask questions, it is the interviewee who makes your day.

—How do you see the current political scenario?

It is a complex scenario because what bothers people the most, and I think everyone, is that they try to offend your intelligence. Throughout generations we know that there are many motivations among the authorities not to tell the truth, but being kidded is hard. That is very upsetting.

—For the third consecutive year you were chosen as the most influential TV journalist in Peru, and “Punto Final” won the Luces 2023 Award in the category of Best Journalistic Program. How important are recognitions to you?

The fact that I was chosen as the most influential journalist makes me proud, it massages my ego, and the recent Luces Award for the program has to do with citizenship, with the vote, with the networks, with what is closest. I feel happy, satisfied, and it is also a challenge because the hurdles are set high, they expect the best from you. I feel that I am still very active, with great desire, health and energy.