Valentina Lares Martiz

Valentina Lares Martiz is editor-in-chief of Armando.info, the only media outlet in Venezuela dedicated to investigative journalism and one of the few independent organizations still serving the public after years of government‑led crackdown on the country’s media. Despite this hostile environment, Lares — who had to leave the country eight years ago — has led Armando.info’s newsroom to publish widely awarded investigations and uncover major corruption schemes. The team was recognized with the 2025 Gabo Foundation Prize for Journalistic Excellence.

Lares is also part of the Latin American team of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), contributing to high‑impact cross‑border projects such as SwissSecrets and NarcoFiles. She directed the Venezuelan chapter of the Paradise Papers and reported for the Pandora Papers and FinCen Files global investigations.

Earlier in her career, Lares chronicled Venezuela’s slide toward authoritarianism as the correspondent for Colombia’s El Tiempo, producing widely cited coverage of the Chávez and Maduro eras—work that earned her the 2019 Best Correspondent Award from the Círculo de Periodistas de Bogotá. She has designed and taught investigative journalism courses for IPYS Venezuela, a non-profit organization committed to training new generations of journalists and defending press freedom in the country.