Wilson Center-Washington Post Fellowship for Latin American Journalists

Now in its fourth year, beginning with a pilot program in 2008, the project has offered fellowships to 15 journalists, from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.  All of the grantees in the program have described the experience as an exceptional and even life-changing opportunity.  Grantees in 2011 were chosen from a competitive applicant pool of 29, representing 14 different countries of the region.  Grantees were: Mark Beckford, The Gleaner Company (Jamaica); Julie López, Plaza Pública (Guatemala); José Monsalve, Semana Magazine (Colombia); and Carolina Rossetti de Toledo, O Estado de S. Paulo (Brazil).

The 2011 Fellowship Recipients

Mark Beckford is the online content coordinator at The Gleaner. Previously, he worked as a staff reporter at The Gleaner after obtaining his MA degree in Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008. In 2011 he received the Jamaica Broilers Fair Play Print Award and the Press Association of Jamaica President’s Award for Investigation. His work at the Wilson Center looked at Jamaican homosexuals who have sought asylum and are now living in the United States.

Julie López is a freelance journalist based in Guatemala, where she reports on politics and security issues. Her work has been published widely, including in ReVista: The Harvard Review of Latin America, and The Miami Herald. In May 2010, López won the Félix Varela National Award for Excellence in American Journalism on Latino Issues—in the print category—for her series "The Narco Empire," published in El Diario/La Prensa in 2009. She has an M.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in Journalism, and has taught journalism and coverage of international issues at graduate and undergraduate levels in the United States. During this fellowship she examined the Lorenzanas’ drug and arms trafficking networks between the U.S. and Guatemala to discover other locations for arms and drugs smuggling in the U.S..

José Monsalve is a reporter and writer for SEMANA Magazine working in the field of justice, law and public order.  In 2008 he received the Interamerican Society of Journalism Award, Human Rights Category and the Simon Bolivar National Journalism Award for the report “La barbarie que no vivimos” published in SEMANA magazine Monsalve received his BA in Journalism from the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin in 2006. While at the Center he researched the actors in the trade union diplomacy in Colombia and how it will influence U.S. – Colombia relationships.

Carolina Rossetti de Toledo is a reporter for the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo with five previous years experience working for the daily newspaper. During her time as a Fellow she investigated human trafficking between Brazil and the U.S. to look for ways to combat this issue.