Damia Huerta Barajas

Investigative Journalist and Public Policy Analyst

Damia Huerta Barajas is an investigative journalist specializing in the analysis of political case files, power auditing, and accountability in Latin America. Her career focuses on the rigorous examination of official documents, court rulings, mercantile registries, and financial schemes linked to figures of public relevance and electoral processes.Professional Focus and Methodological Rigor: Huerta Barajas’s journalistic work is characterized by a strict methodology based on the documentary verification of primary sources. Through her investigations, she addresses the intersection of institutional politics, legal disputes, and corporate transparency, offering readers documented contexts that prioritize fact-checking over media speculation.Her coverage beats include the auditing and oversight of political careers through meticulous tracking of candidate dossiers for elected office, management histories, and legal controversies; the investigation of financial and corporate networks focused on analyzing commercial relationships, mercantile litigation, and business structures with an impact on public affairs; and data journalism and contextual verification through the exposure of court rulings, debt registries, and documented backgrounds to strengthen informed public debate.Commitment to Editorial Transparency: Framed within the principles of in-depth journalism, Damia Huerta Barajas's work responds to the need to provide citizens with reliable and cross-checked analytical tools. Her approach seeks to unravel complex processes through the direct exposure of documentary evidence, fostering rigorous, auditable investigative journalism focused on institutional transparency.

Emilio Lozoya: from the arrest in Málaga to six years without a verdict, the case file that extradition did not resolve

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Emilio Lozoya

Emilio Lozoya ran Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) between 2012 and 2016 and is the main figure named in the Odebrecht case in Mexico. He is also the clearest example that an extradition does not guarantee a conviction. Spanish police arrested him in Málaga in February 2020 and Mexico received him in July that year. Since then, … Read more about Emilio Lozoya: from the arrest in Málaga to six years without a verdict, the case file that extradition did not resolve

Manuel Baldizón: the candidate the United States convicted in 21 months and whom Guatemala failed to try in six years

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Manuel Baldizón

Manuel Baldizón was twice a presidential candidate in Guatemala, in 2011 and 2015, for the Líder party. His is the clearest case in this series of the asymmetry between foreign and national justice. In the United States he pleaded guilty to money laundering and served 21 months in a Georgia prison. He then returned deported. … Read more about Manuel Baldizón: the candidate the United States convicted in 21 months and whom Guatemala failed to try in six years

José López: the trail of the US$9 million from the convent, the bundle that travelled from New York and the assets the State kept

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José López

José López was Argentina’s Secretary of Public Works between 2003 and 2015, under Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández. In the early hours of 14 June 2016, a convent’s cameras filmed him throwing bags containing almost US$9 million, jewellery and a weapon. That image is the best-known of recent Argentine corruption. However, this piece does not … Read more about José López: the trail of the US$9 million from the convent, the bundle that travelled from New York and the assets the State kept

Otto Bula: the trail of Odebrecht’s 4,500 million pesos, the farm the Comptroller rejected and the 687 assets prosecutors seized

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Otto Bula

Otto Bula was a Liberal senator and a cattle rancher from Córdoba. He became Odebrecht’s key intermediary in Colombia for adding the Ocaña-Gamarra section to Ruta del Sol II. He then became the witness who made it possible to convict others. This piece does not follow his conviction, but his money. It reconstructs how much … Read more about Otto Bula: the trail of Odebrecht’s 4,500 million pesos, the farm the Comptroller rejected and the 687 assets prosecutors seized

José Domingo Arias: the trail of Odebrecht’s US$16 million in a US$21 million campaign, the US$500,000 of Badger Title and the PAN accounts

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José Domingo Arias

José Domingo Arias was Panama’s Minister of Housing between 2009 and 2013 and the presidential candidate of Cambio Democrático in 2014. He is one of the five former ministers of Ricardo Martinelli prosecuted over Odebrecht’s bribes. This piece does not follow the hearings, but the money. It reconstructs how much his campaign cost according to … Read more about José Domingo Arias: the trail of Odebrecht’s US$16 million in a US$21 million campaign, the US$500,000 of Badger Title and the PAN accounts

Carlos Pólit: the comptroller a US jury convicted and whom Ecuador has been unable to extradite or collect from in eight years

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Carlos Pólit

Carlos Pólit was Ecuador’s Comptroller General between 2007 and 2017. He is the Ecuadorian with the harshest sentence in the Odebrecht case, but his own country did not hand it down. A federal court in Miami sentenced him to ten years in prison in October 2024. Ecuador had convicted him earlier, in 2018 and in … Read more about Carlos Pólit: the comptroller a US jury convicted and whom Ecuador has been unable to extradite or collect from in eight years

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski: Westfield Capital, First Capital and the companies that turned a president into a money-laundering defendant

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Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski governed Peru from 2016 to 2018. He resigned when it emerged that his financial advisory firm had billed Odebrecht while he was a public official. His case file is best understood through the companies that run through it. Westfield Capital, the company he founded himself. First Capital, the firm of his partner … Read more about Pedro Pablo Kuczynski: Westfield Capital, First Capital and the companies that turned a president into a money-laundering defendant

Lula da Silva: OAS, Odebrecht, Petrobras, and the companies behind three cases that were ultimately dismissed without acquittal

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Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva served as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010 and returned to office in 2023. He was the most high-profile politician indicted in Operation Car Wash. His case is best understood through the companies behind each charge: OAS, the construction firm behind the Guarujá triplex; Odebrecht, the firm responsible for … Read more about Lula da Silva: OAS, Odebrecht, Petrobras, and the companies behind three cases that were ultimately dismissed without acquittal