Our Team

María Teresa Ronderos

Director

María Teresa Ronderos

María Teresa is a reporter and editor, and now is focused on finding, alongside her colleagues at CLIP, new paths for a journalism that stands on the shoulders of technology and is able to move things along. She leads the pack trying to make us stay true to our convictions and to go where we really want to go, despite the efforts of reality to sidetrack us. For this purpose, she seeks the advice of wise friends and allies, she finds new media and journalists willing to join our investigations, or who need our help in following promising leads; she finds producers, creatives, developers; experts in hearings, sources, data and witnesses in the streets (when that was still possible). She edits texts and questions anything that doesn’t add up. She looks for patrons who believe that good journalism can transform the world. She believes that journalism is a collective effort that includes those who read us and watch us; they know about what is going on and why it is going on much more than journalists do, and could help us explain it. And this would be no small feat.

Emiliana García

General Manager

Emiliana García

Emiliana is a journalist-entrepreneur that have worked as a radio and tv producer in Argentina, directed a regional newspaper in Costa Rica and co funded CLIP. She is always on the lookout for philanthropic foundations in sync with CLIP’s mission, or experimenting with new sources of revenue. But most of all, Emiliana is a budget maniac, and she is convinced that in order to know where we stand, where we want to go and how we can achieve it, we have to plan in advance and we have to budget. And so, her love for investigative journalism and her passion for budgets come together flawlessly in her daily work at CLIP.

Rigoberto Carvajal

Architect of information

Rigoberto Carvajal

Rigoberto is a computer engineer specialized in database technologies and data science. He has had a love relationship with investigative journalism for over ten years now, and he is always looking for ways to empower it through technology.

Andrés Bermúdez Liévano

Journalist and Editor

Andrés Bermúdez Liévano

Andrés is what Colombians call a dog’s leg: always restless here and there and everywhere, talking to people, looking for leads and tying loose ends. He believes in a journalism willing to go beyond city limits and reach the farthest corners, by mule or canoe if that’s the only way, in order to talk to people, understand their problems and also their solutions. He enjoys lending a hand in polishing texts and he believes that journalists need to work as a team, even if we were the last to understand it. Or as we say in Latin America, we are not machos, but we are muchos.

José Luis Peñarredonda

Audience Editor

José Luis Peñarredonda

José Luis wanted to be a journalist since he was five years old, and he became one. One day, he understood that technology was the key to the present, and he worked on blending together his two passions. He worked as a reporter and editor for tech media, and then became interested in how digital culture is shaping the world. Along that path, he learned about how people use the internet to connect and create bonds, and came to CLIP with the objective of making sure the journalism we do reaches more people, gathers greater impact and becomes the basis for a community.

Luisa Fernanda López

Product Manager

Luisa Fernanda López

Luisa Fernanda López is a journalist passionate about telling stories. Her wanderings in the world of journalism led her to work with colleagues of many nationalities, from which she learned that in-depth and ethical journalism crosses borders and touches many people, even if they were not born in the same country or do not speak the same language. She started in the so-called "traditional" media, but when the internet burst in, changing the way people consume information, she understood that the way of telling stories and interacting with audiences had changed forever. Luisa combines his work at El Clip with the university professorship that allows her to be permanently in the game approaching the world that young people see and are interested in.

Iván Ruiz

Data Editor

Iván Ruiz

Ivan is the kind of journalist you meet at the corner café talking with a source, asking and asking again to discover where the next story could be. He is the same one who is behind the screen making sense of a database to find the next investigation, reviewing documents or editing someone else's story that he feels is his own. It took him a while to assimilate the formula, but he finally understood that this double life between the art of writing and reading of numbers that journalism offered him, is the one he wants to live. Born and raised in a newsroom in Buenos Aires, every day he is more and more convinced that the best projects become reality when great teams are put together.

Pablo Medina

Disinformation Editor

Pablo Medina

Pablo is a writer, translator and journalist. He is fascinated by new technologies and the way they change how humans relate to each other. That is why for several years he has focused on understanding how disinformation is produced and spread, as well as what to do to fight it and how to discover who is behind it. He directed Colombiacheck, a Colombian fact-checking outlet, and also worked as a fact-checker at the New York Times Syndicate. He has also worked in various media in Colombia, the United States and Italy covering politics, sports, music and technology. He is interested in all stories that include little-spoken languages, little-known sports, or self-proclaimed prophets. He speaks Spanish, English and Italian, has studied German, Latin, Ancient Greek and Esperanto, and is now learning Russian.

Ángela Cantador

Ángela Cantador

Ángela Cantador quiso ser periodista desde que tiene uso de razón, pero con un objetivo claro: dedicarse a ese periodismo que hace de la unión su mayor fuerza, para que las historias traspasen fronteras y puedan contarse plenamente. Tras pasar por agencias de comunicación y varios medios independientes, aterrizó en CLIP para, desde la investigación colaborativa, buscar, escuchar, entender y contar historias regionales que importan

Mayra Baez

Community Manager

Mayra Baez

Mayra is a political scientist. She is amazed by the constant mutation of communication thanks to technology, and how it can be used to confront the climate crisis and the closure of democratic spaces. She has specialized in simplifying complex ideas, including journalistic content, for broader audiences. She is one of the creators of AJ+ Español, Al Jazeera's first Spanish-language media for Latin America, and also worked with Univision. Mayra is a meditation trainer convinced that it is important to take care of the mental health of journalists to produce quality journalism.

Diego Arce

Web Developer

Diego Arce

Diego is a computer engineer focusing on software and web applications development, specialized in Front-End and data visualization. He is a lover of standards, neat coding and positive leadership. Diego is a strong believer in thinking twice but writing once only, and he is passionate about learning new technologies and sharing what he learned.

Sairo Alemán Vallejos

Front-End Engineer

Sairo Alemán Vallejos

Sairo Alemán Vallejos is a software engineer with experience in Front-end web development. Sairo develops products and goes out to look for data to offer a clear and productive visualization to journalists working with CLIP, for whom he has great admiration. According to Sairo, if we don't have technological tools, we wouldn't be able to cross borders and present comprehensive, complete information. In other words, it is important to generate a positive social impact through journalistic research and technological products.

Jair Robelo Altamirano

Back end Engineer

Jair Robelo Altamirano

Jair Robelo Altamirano is a business computer scientist, focused on backend software development and data analysis and processing. Jair is a meticulous person who likes to analyze everything and be 100% involved in what he does. His attraction to the world of data comes from his eagerness to discover new challenges and explore new areas to apply what he has learned.

Armando Mora

Back end Engineer

Armando Mora

Armando Mora is a software engineer with experience in the Back-end area. Armando is a passionate person, always looking to go beyond what is known by using technology to enhance the work of journalism. For Armando, his greatest satisfaction is working with journalists, supporting them in the search for solutions to their problems and putting his knowledge at the service of the creation of Latin American news.

What makes us tick?

CLIP is a non-for-profit organization based in Costa Rica, a Latin American team dedicated to carrying out and coordinating collaborative transnational journalistic investigations as well as putting technological innovation at the service of journalism in the region. We want our investigations —always made in collaboration with media and journalists of Latin America— to untangle abuse of power beyond national borders and make it visible to citizens. In the sea of confusing information we call the internet, our allied and simultaneous publications strive to be seen and to be felt, to interact with people and to bring about change.

We want to connect the dots across borders with the aim of:

Safeguarding public interest

Protecting the environment

Defending human dignity

Widening civil liberties

Exposing misinformation

We want to allow thousands of Latin Americans tired of abuses of power to see more clearly, to strengthen public scrutiny, and to find in CLIP an ally they can identify with and form a powerful community that demands accountability from governments, companies and other powerful actors in the region.

Twelve Tenets of CLIP

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Our story

We met during an investigative journalism workshop in 2015 in the Czech Republic, three journalists of different trajectories and from different countries: Giannina Segnini, from Costa Rica, Marina Walker-Guevara from Argentina, and me, María Teresa Ronderos from Colombia. Together, we began to dream about a Latin American center to carry out transnational investigations in collaboration with media and journalists in the region. We agreed that almost all phenomena affecting us, for better or for worse, crossed borders. We also saw that in the region there was a whole generation of investigative journalists skilled in the craft, inspired by ideals of political and social change, and brave of soul. It was a perfect opportunity! And so we raised our glasses to the “Pact of Prague”, bowing that one day we would make it happen. 

 That day was June 3rd, 2019. We started working in CLIP, at least part-time, with Emiliana García, Rigoberto Carvajal, Andrés Bermúdez Liévano, and me. From the get-go, Giannina Segnini has been our mentor and investigative brains, Marina Walker-Guevara has been adviser and support, and Natalia Viana, digital journalism pioneer in Brazil, has filled us with motivation and asked us the hard questions.

The Atlantic Foundation and the Tinker Foundation provided us with seed capital to get started. Local Costa Rican newspaper La Voz de Guanacaste became our fiscal and administrative sponsor, while we worked on legalizing our own institution. On May 2020, we came to legal life.

 That’s how we started. Before completing a year, the team had expanded to include twelve freelancers for different projects; we put up our website with design courtesy of Prodigioso Volcán; our past and present allies add up to 50 news media and organizations in the region, ranging all the way from the United States and Mexico to Argentina and Brazil; and many internationals too, including the European Transnational Investigation Center Occrp, and Bellingcat, a website specialized in open source investigation. 

Alongside them we continued to investigate, developing tools to facilitate research and telling the stories that some would prefer to leave untold. Other generous philanthropists have joined the cause since then.

We do not know where this adventure will take us, but we already feel grateful with everyone who has helped us get this far. We also want you to join the Pact of Prague! 

María Teresa Ronderos
Director of CLIP
May 12, 2020

Companions on the road (board)

Journalists and experts in other areas have generously accepted to be members of our board.

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Giannina Segnini

President.

Journalist and professor at Columbia University

(Costa Rica)

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María Teresa Ronderos

Spokeswoman 1

CLIP Team

(Colombia)

Ewald Acuña

Tax advisor

Former judge of the First Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica and lawyer

(Costa Rica)

Rigoberto Carvajal

Treasurer

CLIP team

(Costa Rica)

Marina Walker-Guevara

Spokeswoman 2

Executive director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

(Argentina – United States)

EMIfondoMadera

Emiliana García

Secretary

CLIP team

(Argentina)

Borja Echevarría

Associate

Deputy director of El País

(Spain)

Natalia Viana

Associate

Co-director of Agencia Pública

(Brazil)

Mónica Aparicio

Associate

Expert in finance and former president of Banco de la República de Colombia

(Colombia)

Damian 1 (1)

Damián Osta Mattos

Associate

CEO of La Diaria of Uruguay

(Uruguay)

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Marcela Turati

Asociados

Co Founder of Quinto Elemento Lab, a journalist laboratory of innovation and investigation

(Mexico)

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Joel Simons

Asociados

Director and Co Founder of the Initiative for Protection Program for journalists in Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism of New York City

(United States)

CLIP-Team Media

To date, our journalistic allies in different projects have been the following:

Agencia Ocote (Guatemala)
Agência Pública (Brazil)
Anfibia (Argentina)
Animal Político (México)
Aos Fatos (Brazil)
Armando.info (Venezuela)
AzMina (Brasil)
Bolivia Verifica (Bolivia)
Cerosetenta (Colombia)
Chequeado (Argentina)
Ciper (Chile)
Colectivo 23 de Marzo (México)
Colombia Check (Colombia)
Concolón (Panamá)
Confidencial (Nicaragua)
Contracorriente (Honduras)
Consejo de Redacción (Colombia)
Cosecha Roja (Colombia)
CRHoy.com (Costa Rica)
Cuestión Pública (Argentina)
Data Crítica (México)
Delfino.CR (Costa Rica)
Diálogo Chino (América Latina)
Doble Check (Costa Rica)
Dromómanos (México)
Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela)
El Deber (Bolivia)
El Diario de Hoy (El Salvador)
El Espectador (Colombia)
El Faro (El Salvador)
El Informe con Alicia Ortega (Rep. Dominicana)

El País (Uruguay)
El Surtidor (Paraguay)
El Tiempo (Unidad Investigativa, Colombia)
El Universal (México)
El Universo (Ecuador)
Factum (El Salvador)
Foco Panamá (Panamá)
Folha de São Paulo (Brasil)
Guatemala Leaks (Guatemala)
GK (Ecuador)
IDL-Reporteros (Perú)
Infobae (Argentina)
Infoamazonia (Brasil)
Interferencia (Chile)
Interferencia (Costa Rica)
La Diaria (Uruguay)
La Liga contra el Silencio (Colombia)
La Nación (Argentina)
La No Ficción (Colombia)
La Prensa (Panamá)
La República (Perú)
La Silla Vacía (Colombia)
La Voz de Guanacaste (Costa Rica)
MalaYerba (El Salvador)
Metrópoles (Brasil)
Mexicanos contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (México)
Mongabay Latam (América Latina)
Mutante (Colombia)

No Ficción (Guatemala)
Nómada (Guatemala)
Noticias Repretel (Costa Rica)
OCCRP (América Latina)
OjoConMiPisto (Guatemala)
Ojo Público (Perú)
Periodistas de Pie (México, y su red de medios aliados Pie de Página, Chiapas Paralelo, Amapola)
Plaza Pública (Guatemala)
Poder (México)
Ponte Jornalismo (Brazil)
Profissão Repórter (TV Globo- Brasil)
Quinto Elemento Lab (México)
RunRunes (Venezuela)
Rutas del Conflicto (Colombia)
Salud con Lupa (Perú)
Semana (Equipo digital -Colombia)
Semanario Universidad (Costa Rica)
Sinart Canal 13 (Costa Rica)
Sudestada (Uruguay)
360 Grados (Colombia)
UOL (Brasil)
Verdad Abierta (Colombia)
Vorágine (Colombia)

Allies out of the region:

Bellingcat (Gran Bretaña)
Correctiv (Germany)
Forbidden Stories (France)
Miami Herald (United States)

Mongabay (United States)
Museba Project (Camerún)
NBC News (United States)

Telemundo (United States)
The Confluence (India)
Univision (United States)

Other organizations with which we have collaborated or are developing alliances with are:Columbia University School of Journalism, Abraji (Brazil), García Márquez Foundation (Latin America), CPJ (New York), Open Contracting Partnership (US), Carbon Market Watch (Belgium) and Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (Colombia).

The Patrons

Many foundations accompany us in our quest, providing us with support through financial and operative resources

luminate-building

Luminate

Open Society Foundations

atlatic_foundation

The Atlantic Foundation

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FORD Foundation

Free Press Unlimited

Seattle International Foundation

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ForumCiv

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ASDI

Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Fundación Avina

Tinker Foundation

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Google News Initiative

Oxfam

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International Media Support

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Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN)

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Prodigioso Volcán

ElVeinte

El Veinte

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Logan Foundation

CLIP also seeks to generate its own resources with the development of new ideas, sell of technological services, workshops and publication of books.

CLIP is part of the:

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CLIP has the 501c3 Equivalency

NGO-Source