Investigating Latin America’s Global Reach Of Illicit Activities

In today’s global landscape, tracing the path of illicit money has become a critical skill for reporters. Join GIJN for a webinar tailored for investigative journalists who have unraveled intricate webs of misconduct that start in Latin America but impact communities around the world.
This session delves into stories about deforestation, drugs, and mining, providing tips and tools to pursue groundbreaking investigations. From transnational criminal networks to financial maneuvers used to conceal illicit gains, the webinar highlights recent investigations that have tracked illegally mined gold from the Amazon to India, cocaine from Colombia to European ports, and unmasked the hidden owners of offshore companies based in Panama and other Latin American countries.
As journalists, understanding the methodology behind corrupt activity and learning how to better expose it is crucial for producing impactful transnational collaborative pieces. In this GIJN webinar, four senior investigative journalists share lessons learned on how to work beyond borders on local stories about global issues.
Bianca Padró Ocasio is an independent journalist working in both the US and Peru. As part of OjoPúblico’s Cross Border Investigations Network, she contributed to the Dirty Gold Routes investigative series on the new destinations of gold illegally mined in the Amazon. Recently, for OjoPúblico, she also co-produced a short documentary on a logging concession encroaching on an isolated Indigenous tribe’s lands and contributed to OCCRP’s NarcoFiles project with a story on how illegal mining has become an increasingly important source of income for armed groups in Colombia.
Joseph Poliszuk is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Armando.info, a trailblazing news website dedicated to investigative journalism. He leads a team of intrepid reporters who have produced major investigations revealing financial misdeeds and corruption in Venezuela, which has been ranked one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International.
Lilia Saúl is an investigative reporter with OCCRP, based in Mexico. Before that, she spent more than 15 years reporting for media outlets such as El Universal, Emeequis magazine, and Mexicanos contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad. She received the 2016 Ortega y Gasset Award in the multimedia category for an investigation into forced disappearances and was a finalist for the Data Journalism Awards in 2015 for an investigation into how the Mexican government was misusing public trusts. In 2023, she was part of the team that worked on the NarcoFiles, on the globe-spanning business of drug trafficking.
Luiz Fernando Toledo is a Brazilian investigative and data journalist. Alongside co-founding two nonprofit organizations specializing in data and public records to support investigative journalism - Fiquem Sabendo and DataFixers.org - he has overseen more than US$300,000 in journalism and public transparency projects that have helped produce over 4,000 stories globally. He currently also collaborates with UOL and Revista Piaui. In 2023, he was part of a global team that used data to interrogate green claims, resulting in an impactful investigation, Deforestation Inc.
The moderator is Carlos Huertas, director of Connectas.
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The Global Investigative Journalism Network is an international association of journalism organizations that support the training and sharing of information among investigative and data journalists-with special attention to those from repressive regimes and marginalized communities.
Our key activities include:
Providing resources and networking services to investigative journalists worldwide;
Publishing in multiple languages and on multiple platforms the latest tools, techniques and opportunities for those in the field;
Helping organize and promote regional and international training conferences and workshops;
Assisting in the formation and sustainability of journalism organizations involved in investigative reporting and data journalism around the world;
Supporting and promoting best practices in investigative and data journalism;
Supporting and promoting efforts to ensure free access to public documents and data worldwide.
Find more information on our website: gijn.org