Ernesto Rivera, Costa Rica, is the director of Lado-B, an independent investigative journalism project.
He was formerly the news director for Canal 13 and Semanario Universidad. He was also a staff writer for the investigative unit at La Nación in San Jose.
Before that, he was an editor at La Nación and a contributor to the magazines SoHo, Proa and Áncora.
At La Nación, Rivera investigated the Costa Rican Catholic Church’s participation in the financial services industry. The probe resulted in criminal proceedings against the church, accused of being an illegal financial intermediary. He also worked on a series of stories exposing business interests in Costa Rica owned by New York mob bosses.
Rivera was a team member on an investigation into the campaign finances of former Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco. He produced investigative work on embezzlement by former Costa Rican presidents Miguel Ángel Rodríguez and Rafael Ángel Calderón, which ended in their arrests and ultimate convictions.
He has worked as a radio producer and contributed articles to publications in Costa Rica, Argentina and Colombia. His investigation into bribes paid to Costa Rican politicians by the Finish conglomerate Medko Instrumentarium Medical (a medical equipment manufacturer) and France’s Alcatel CIT to Costa Rican politicians earned him several awards, including the Ortega y Gasset Award by the Spanish newspaper El País for the best investigative story in 2011; the award for best investigative journalism on corruption in Latin America by the Institute for Press and Society and Transparency International; and an honorary mention from the Maria Moors Cabot Journalism Awards. Rivera’s previous work on white collar crime also has won recognition from Costa Rica’s Aquileo J. Echeverría Award and the National Award for Editors.
He is the author of three books and also teaches at the University of Costa Rica’s School of Mass Communications.
