Reporting, research and writing
Between 2020 and 2023, I wrote a story each Sunday for the weekend section of La Tercera newspaper, covering different beats according to the week’s contingency. Here is a selection of my best journalistic pieces about local politics, which were published in the printed edition, social media platforms and the digital website of the newspaper.
Desplazar↓
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.
Click here to read the whole article.
International media reaction to the Rodrigo Rojas Vade case
*This research and interview 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.
02/05/2023
Natalia Piergentili: "We have an ethical duty to vindicate the center-left as a valuable space for Chile."
At the beginning of this year, Chile's political forces were gearing up for the election of the 50 constitutional advisors, which took place in April. This process required political parties to form organized lists. A pivotal moment in these negotiations was the historic split between the center-left parties, the Socialist Party and the Party for Democracy. In this interview I conducted with the president of the latter party, she elucidates the reasons behind this momentous decision.
The PPD leader acknowledges that the decision of the PS to form an alliance with "Apruebo Dignidad" for the selection of constitutional advisors stung. She would have preferred President Boric to avoid getting involved in the party's decisions. However, she firmly believes that her party's stance to compete on two separate lists within the ruling coalition reflects a more profound conviction.
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