WASHINGTON – The lead news anchor with the largest U.S. Spanish-language television network called the absence of a Hispanic or African-American moderator in the upcoming presidential debates a “grave omission.”

“One out of every four of the country’s inhabitants is of some other ethnic origin and it is unacceptable that neither a Hispanic nor an African American has been named as moderator. I think the four professionals chosen are extraordinary, but the United States is much more diverse than that,” Univision’s Jorge Ramos told Efe.

In fact, the first reaction of Univision was to send a letter to the Commission On Presidential Debates asking them to reconsider their decision and proposed Ramos and his network colleague Maria Elena Salinas as moderators.

When the commission turned the idea down, Univision sent Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney an offer to organize a debate for the Hispanic public.

The debate produced by Univision would last about an hour, the questions would be in Spanish, the answers would be translated from the English for broadcast, and it would be based on “subjects that concern Hispanics,” Ramos said.

Among the matters to be dealt with, the journalists mentioned unemployment, health reform and amnesty for undocumented youths.

They also proposed analyses of U.S. relations with Cuba, controversial President Hugo Chavez, the situation in Mexico following the recent presidential elections, and Spain’s economic crisis.

“It is very unlikely that these subjects will come up in the debates as they are now organized because they do not appear in the day-to-day programming of those media in English,” Ramos said.

The Commission On Presidential Debates announced that Candy Crowley of CNN, Jim Lehrer of PBS and Bob Schieffer de CBS News will moderate the three presidential debates, while ABC News’ Martha Raddatz will handle the debate between the vice-presidential candidates. EFE