Global Shining Light Finalist: OLP, The Mask of Official Terror (Venezuela)

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In the run-up to the 11th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Hamburg this September 26 to 29, we’re featuring one Global Shining Light Award finalist per day. The winners, chosen from 12 outstanding investigative projects, will be announced at the conference.

The Shining Light Award, first given out at our 2007 Global Conference, uniquely honors investigative journalists in developing or transitioning countries whose work was done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.

The finalists were selected by an international panel of judges from a record 291 projects. All the stories were published in 2017 or 2018. The award is sponsored by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, an association of 182 organizations in 77 countries.

This year, given the broad range of work submitted, we divided the submissions into two categories: large outlets (with ten or more staff) and smaller outlets (with fewer than 10 staff). We hope you’ll agree that this year’s finalists showcase extraordinary journalism by some extraordinary journalists.

Small Outlets Category: “OLP: The Mask of Official Terror in Venezuela,” Runrun.es and Connectas.org (Venezuela).

Team: Ronna Risquez, Lorena Melendez, Lisseth Boon, Carmen Riera, Juan Carlos Hernández, Abrahan Moncada, Daniela Aguilar. 

This joint investigation revealed how Venezuelan security forces involved in the so-called Operation Liberation and Protection of the People (OLP) carried out extrajudicial killings of men in poor neighborhoods over a period of two years. Faced with a lack of official information, the reporters created their own database with details on 560 victims.