Puerto Rico

Joaquín A. Rosado Lebrón

Joaquín A. Rosado Lebrón covers health in Puerto Rico for Metro Puerto Rico. Prior to joining Metro, he reported on air quality and toxic emissions in Puerto Rico for Centro de Periodismo Investigativo and worked as a reporter for the University of Puerto Rico’s radio station, Radio Universidad. His journalism career began by volunteering in a community-led newspaper called El Roble Río Piedras, where he contributed as an editorial designer and writer. His experience as a freelance graphic designer allowed him to collaborate with nonprofit organizations, advertising agencies and media companies. Rosado Lebrón holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Puerto Rico, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree in public relations and advertising.

Metro Puerto Rico

Metro Puerto Rico is a for-profit multi-platform media outlet in Puerto Rico that delivers journalistic information focused on young professional adults. Our printed product reaches all the urban areas with a strategic distribution. Our website reaches the entire audience with Internet access in Puerto Rico.

Luis Joel Mendez Gonzalez

Luis Joel Méndez González covers government preparedness around climate change for the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, a nonprofit investigative news organization. Born and raised in Moca, Puerto Rico, he was a ProPublica Emerging Reporter in 2019, and a Google News Initiative Fellow in 2020. Méndez González, an LGBTQIA+ first-generation college graduate, has interned with The Miami Herald I-Team, El Nuevo Día Investigative and Data Unit, and Metro Puerto Rico. As a freelancer he has reported for international media outlets. Méndez González holds a master's degree in information design and data visualization from Northeastern University. In his free time, he enjoys reading and writing, and he also loves beauty pageants and coffee.

Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo is a nonprofit that produces in-depth investigative journalism, published in both Spanish and English, and distributes its content free of charge to readers and media outlets in Puerto Rico and abroad. The CPI has won recognition producing stories on corruption, cronyism in government, electoral campaigns, and public policy in health, education, the economy and the environment. Its work has proven to be crucial and in some instances pivotal in bringing about social change, accountability, recovery and justice.

Vanessa Colon Almenas

Vanessa Colon Almenas helps lead a team of reporters for the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI), a nonprofit investigative news organization. Colon Almenas, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and her team are delving into the island's recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria in 2017. With more than 25 years of journalism experience, she has worked as a reporter, a deputy director and a multimedia editor at Primera Hora, a newspaper. Later, she was the digital deputy director of Puerto Rico's two largest news sites, El Nuevo Dia and Primera Hora. Colon Almenas recently completed her master's at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. As an independent journalist her work has been published by the CPI, City Limits, Latino Rebels and CNN en Español.

Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo is a 501c3 non-profit that investigates and distributes its content free of charge, directly to readers and mass media outlets in Puerto Rico and abroad. Founded in 2007 by journalists, the CPI produces quality in-depth journalism free of political and commercial ties through its website and media allies. In recent years, the CPI has been at the forefront in chronicling major news on the island, from a decade-long economic crisis and five years of bankruptcy to the trauma of two catastrophic hurricanes. In 2019, it published a leaked chat that exposed the corruption of former Gov. Ricardo Rosello and his administration, which culminated in massive street protests that led to his resignation from office.

Jose Encarnación

José Encarnación is a journalist for Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, a Puerto Rican publication, where he concentrates on education issues that include massive school closures even before the coronavirus pandemic as well as various scandals involving the island’s education budget. As a journalist and graduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Encarnación knows the island well. He specialized in Caribbean history and the intersection of sports and society. He has worked as a news and sports reporter for Diálogo UPR, NotiCel and Metro Puerto Rico. In 2019, Encarnación received awards for Best Feature Article and Best Interview granted by the Puerto Rico Association of Journalists. (Its Spanish acronym is ASPPRO.) In 2016, Encarnación completed his B.A. in Journalism at the University of Puerto Rico and is currently working on his master's thesis, which focuses on the political persecution that surrounded the 1966 Central American & Caribbean Games that took place in Puerto Rico.

Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

Founded in 2007, the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) is an independent, non-profit organization promoting news and information access in Puerto Rico through investigative journalism, litigation and journalism training. The CPI is the only entity of its kind in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean dedicated to investigative journalism. Our journalists have produced hundreds of stories on issues such as political corruption, the financing of electoral campaigns, public policy issues in areas such as health, the economy, the environment, education, agriculture and crime, as well as the ways in which private groups benefit from government mismanagement. Published in both Spanish and English, CPI’s work has received more than 30 awards from professional journalism associations in Puerto Rico and abroad.

Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

Founded in 2007, the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) is an independent, non-profit organization promoting news and information access in Puerto Rico through investigative journalism, litigation and journalism training. The CPI is the only entity of its kind in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean dedicated to investigative journalism. Our journalists have produced hundreds of stories on issues such as political corruption, the financing of electoral campaigns, public policy issues in areas such as health, the economy, the environment, education, agriculture and crime, as well as the ways in which private groups benefit from government mismanagement. Published in both Spanish and English, CPI’s work has received more than 30 awards from professional journalism associations in Puerto Rico and abroad.

Victor L. Rodriguez-Velazquez

Victor has been a journalism professor and freelance reporter in Puerto Rico. He started his career at the Metro Puerto Rico, where he covered business, the economy and entrepreneurship. When he joined Universidad Ana G. Méndez & Universidad del Sagrado Corazón as a professor—teaching journalism, communication theory, and multimedia production—he also took over as acting director of Diálogo UPR, the official newspaper of the University of Puerto Rico. In this role, he coordinated and supervised editorial projects and was responsible for increasing audience across digital platforms. More recently, he has worked as a freelance investigative reporter for Centro de Periodismo Investigativo de Puerto Rico. Victor earned a B.A. in journalism and M.A. in communications from the University of Puerto Rico.