Telemundo Executive José Alberto Suárez Among Four Americans Killed in Kenya Helicopter Crash
José Alberto Suárez, president and general manager of Telemundo's television stations in Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers-Naples, Florida, has died in a helicopter crash in northeastern Kenya. He was 55.
Telemundo, the NBCUniversal-owned Spanish-language broadcaster, announced his death on 19 August 2026. Suárez was one of four Americans killed when a helicopter went down in Samburu County, Kenya, on a Wednesday, according to a U.S. State Department spokesperson who confirmed the American fatalities ABC News. All seven people aboard the aircraft, including the pilot, were killed, Variety reported.
NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde, NBCU Local Chairman Valari Staab and Telemundo station group president Jose Cancela issued a joint statement mourning Suárez. The three executives lead the divisions that encompassed his work.
Suárez spent two decades with NBCUniversal in a career that took him across the American West and South. Before his most recent role overseeing Telemundo 31 in Orlando, Telemundo 49 in Tampa and Telemundo Ft. Myers-Naples, he led stations in San Antonio, Sacramento, Fresno, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Earlier, he served as director of creative services and programming for NBC's WTVJ in Miami.
His career in media began on the air and behind the scenes. Before joining NBCUniversal, Suárez held news and on-air roles for media outlets in Florida, Ohio and Texas. Within the NBCU family, he also worked in digital media roles with NBC 6 in Miami and Telemundo 51.
Suárez had been a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists since 1998, a span of nearly three decades that traced his rise through local television management.
No cause of the crash has been publicly disclosed. The identities of the other three Americans killed, as well as the remaining passengers, have not been released by U.S. or Kenyan authorities.
For the station groups Suárez led, his death removes an executive who had shepherded Telemundo's Florida operations — markets that serve some of the largest Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. The broadcaster has not yet named a successor.
