Some of my stories have been nominated for different national journalism awards in Chile and recognized in non-fiction journalistic books. Here are these works.
Desplazar↓
07/11/2020
The farewell rooms
During the worst time of COVID-19 in Chile, people of the Barros Luco and Padre Hurtado Hospitals -some of the biggest hospitals in Santiago- set up companionship and care rooms to give the most severe COVID patients a good death. To achieve that, they incorporated classical music and aromatherapy, but also something more important: seeking what these patients need to die peacefully. Here is the story of the Proportional Care Unit for COVID-19 at Barros Luco Hospital. The health workers of that team are in charge of giving a good death to those who did not qualify for mechanical ventilation. After all that they have lived through, Health professionals have drawn a lesson: their job involves not only medical assistance but also an emotional one.
Click here to read the whole article.
Nominated for the Journalism Excellence Award from the Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile, in the Best Chronicle category. Therefore, it appears in the book “The Best Chilean Journalism 2021,” which Alberto Hurtado’s university writes, compiling the best journalistic pieces.
Photos by La Tercera
08/15/2020
Ámbar’s cry: chronicle of a system that failed
Ámbar Cornejo was a 16-year-old girl who was raped, murdered, and dismembered by her mother's partner in Viña del Mar, Chile. Her death revealed a huge flaw in Chilean justice since her murderer, who had already been in prison for a similar crime, was conditionally released before his penalty sentence ended. However, another system failed: Ámbar also went through many public children protection programs that could not protect her. A lack of coordination, misdiagnosis, and late solutions were the errors in the National Children's Service (Sename) programs that Ámbar Cornejo went through, revealing the failure of a system leaking for a long time.
Photo by La Tercera
This article was included in the non-fiction stories of the book “Chile Crónico 2020: Las mejores historias periodísticas de un año para no olvidar”, edited by Editorial Berrinche.
You can find this book at this link.
12/12/2020
Lockdown in 42m2
The return of confinement in Santiago showed, once again, the overcrowding in various city districts. So how does a family of eight members with just one bathroom tolerate lockdown? No one knew how to answer, but the Torres family, who lived in Bajos de Mena, one of Santiago's poorest and overcrowded neighborhoods, had to find out.
Click here to read the whole article
Nominated in the Best testimony category of the 2021 Journalism Awards of the Alianza Comunicación y Pobreza Corporation.
Photo by La Tercera
09/05/2021
"Rojas Vade admits that he does not have cancer: "I feel that I have to withdraw from the constituent assembly."
Rodrigo Rojas Vade was a protester who emerged as a political figure during Chile's political crisis in 2019. His speech was based on an alleged fight against a rare type of leukemia that supposedly broke him financially, exposing the inequalities of the Chilean health system. Thanks to his story, he was democratically elected -and one of the most voted- as a constituent assembly member. He later turned into one of the vice presidents of this political organ. However, Rojas Vade's story had a trap; something was not fitting. That is why I started investigating him for two months while he was in office and realized he was lying about his disease. Finally, I confronted him in an interview, and Rojas Vade confessed: it was all a lie; he has never had cancer.
*This article had severe national consequences and international visibility when published in La Tercera. First, Rojas Vade ended up quitting his political position. Second, the Chilean political scandal flew worldwide, appearing in newspapers such as The Guardian and The Washington Post and magazines like The Economist. Moreover, after the September referendum, Chileans rejected the new Constitution's draft; many researchers said that one of the reasons for its rejection was Rojas Vade's lie because it meant a blow to people's trust in the assembly.
Click here to read The Guardian article
Nominated in the Journalism Excellence Award from the Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile in the Best Interview category. Therefore, it appears in the book “The best Chilean Journalism 2022” which is one that Alberto Hurtado’s university writes, compiling the best journalistic pieces