International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Amaury Ribeiro, Jr., Brazil, is the editor of Istoe, a weekly newsmagazine.

Amaury Ribeiro, Jr., Brazil

He is a former investigative reporter for the Rio de Janiero newspaper, O Globo. Ribeiro and a photographer traveled to the Araguaia region of Brazil to investigate a 1972-74 guerrilla war that the military had kept secret from the public, a story for which he won the 1996 Prêmio Esso de Jornalismo, Brazil’s highest journalism honor. In a series of articles, Ribeiro released unknown documents and photos, as well as interviews with victims tortured by the army, to show that the military had executed political prisoners. Ribeiro mapped out clandestine cemeteries where the executed prisoners’ remains were buried. The series forced the Brazilian government to call in a forensic team from neighboring Argentina to investigate, which ultimately located at least four such cemeteries. For his reporting that exposed a child prostitution network, he was awarded the Prêmio Esso in 1997.