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Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald reporter Nora Gámez Torres wins Maria Moors Cabot prize
Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism announced Wednesday that Gámez Torres, a reporter with McClatchy newspapers, the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, is among this year's winners for 'her fair, accurate and groundbreaking journalism.' She will be awarded the Cabot Gold Medal, the university said, at a ceremony in October.
Gámez Torres is the 17th Herald journalist to win the lifetime achievement prize, the oldest award in international journalism and the most prestigious for coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Cuba-born journalist also joins a prestigious list of Cubans and Cuban Americans who have also been honored over the years by the Cabot jury for promoting inter-American understanding of life under Cuba's communist regime.
'For more than a decade, Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald correspondent Nora Gámez Torres has provided deeply reported, compelling coverage of Cuba, becoming the most authoritative voice on the island nation in the U.S. media,' the announcement said.
Gámez Torres, who came to the Herald from academia, first joined el Nuevo Herald in 2014. Since then, her coverage has become a go-to resource for everyone from relatives living in the U.S. seeking information about what's happening on the island to policy hawks trying to carve out U.S. policy. Her essential coverage of U.S.-Cuba relations and historic developments on the island often beats Havana-based competition, although she has not been allowed inside Cuba for nine years, the Cabot jury noted.
'With Cuban media under tight government control, many Cubans also learn about events in their own country through her reporting,' said the judges.
The Maria Moors Cabot jury highlighted Gámez Torres' reporting on the pivotal role that Cuban Americans in Miami played in the return of capitalist enterprises to Cuba; her exclusives on the Havana Syndrome illness that struck U.S. diplomats, and the arrest of a former U.S. ambassador in Miami who pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent for Cuba.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited her reporting during his confirmation hearing to become the Trump administration's top diplomat. During questioning about U.S. policy toward Cuba, Rubio referenced Gámez Torres exposé on how Cuba's military-run conglomerate, GAESA, has been hoarding billions of dollars in its secret accounts while the population suffers from electrical blackouts and starvation.
Cuba runs one of the world's best intelligence services. Gámez Torres series, based on leaked documents, wasn't just a testament to her sourcing but her years of trusted reporting. The stories marked the first time internal information from GAESA's accounting system had been publicly disclosed.
'Nora embodies the spirit of courageous journalism that the Cabot Prize represents. Her work has consistently illuminated complex issues with depth, clarity and fearlessness,' said Alex Mena, executive editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald. 'We are incredibly proud to see her named a Cabot Prize winner. It is a well-deserved honor and a powerful recognition of the impact of her reporting.'
In addition to her investigations on government mismanagement and corruption, Gámez's reporting portfolio includes stories on human rights violations and political repression inside Cuba. That includes stories on the unprecedented anti-government protests in July 2021, the surprising return of capitalism to the island and the historic exodus of Cubans fleeing extreme poverty and repression. As a result of her hard hitting reports, she has been a frequent target of attacks by Cuban state media and state security forces.
'It is with great gratitude that I accept the María Moors Cabot award, which is also a testament to the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald's commitment to covering Cuba and the Cuban American community in South Florida,' Gámez Torres said. 'Throughout my time at the Herald, I have been inspired and mentored by colleagues and friends who have won this prestigious award. And I am honored to continue the line of Cuba-born journalists who have received this distinction.'
That list includes former Herald foreign correspondent and assistant world editor Juan Tamayo and former Herald publisher and former head of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Alberto Ibargüen, who received a special citation along with Cuban dissident and blogger Yoani Sanchez.
While Cuba and the Cuban American diaspora are her speciality, Gámez Torres also reports on U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean. More recently, she has also been involved in reporting on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Gámez Torres, the Cabot jury said, 'keeps both governments in her sights; she reported on a Cuban woman who was detained while doing a routine ICE check-in and then deported, leaving a still breastfeeding daughter and American husband behind.'
Gámez Torres has been part of winning investigative teams, including those behind the Panama Papers, the Odebrecht series and the Bribery Division series in partnership with other national and international media outlets. Her work has been recognized by the Florida Society of News Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
Gámez first studied journalism at the University of Havana, where she later taught Media Theory. She has a Ph.D in Sociology from City University of London and a Master of Science in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics.
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READ MORE: Weeks after disappearance, DHS confirms Venezuelan man was deported to El Salvador 'The most difficult part was for my mother and daughter, who didn't know where I was — whether I was alive or dead,' Leon Rengel said. 'My daughter suffered a lot. She prayed every day to see me again.' After his detenton in Irving he was briefly held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas and later transferred to the East Hidalgo Detention Center, a privately run facility used by ICE in La Villa, Texas. Two days later he was deported to El Salvador. Leon Rengel said he and dozens of other Venezuelan detainees were told they were being deported to Venezuela. ICE agents 'never told us we were going to El Salvador,' he said. 'They said we were being sent to Venezuela and even made us lower the airplane window shades. The surprise came when we landed in San Salvador.' On July 18, the United States and Venezuela carried out a wide-ranging prisoner swap. As part of the agreement, 252 Venezuelans who had been deported from the U.S. and held in El Salvador's maximum-security prison were exchanged for dozens of political prisoners and 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela — including a Venezuelan-American who had been convicted of committing a triple murder in Spain. Leon Rengel said his only goal in filing the complaint is to clear his name. 'It's unfair they detained us without any evidence of wrongdoing. I have no criminal record in Venezuela or Colombia. All I want is for them to be held accountable for the harm the government did to me.' More than 75 other Venezuelan men that were held in CECOT are preparing similar claims, some of which involve allegations of head trauma, sexual violence and other forms of abuse, according to Proaño, the LULAC executive. 'This claim is too important to ignore,' Proaño said. 'If the Department of Homeland Security can deport Venezuelans without due process, they can do it to anyone — migrants of other nationalities, even U.S. citizens who are mistakenly identified. What's to stop them from sending people to third countries they're not even from?' He added: 'We can't let that become the norm. They need to be held accountable — and that means financial consequences.' Proaño said if the U.S. government is forded to pay '$1 million to each of the 250 people wrongfully deported to El Salvador, that's $250 million. That's a small amount compared to the billions already being spent to deport Latinos. It's the only way they'll learn.' Leon Rengel was born in 1998 — the same year Hugo Chávez rose to power, marking the beginning of Venezuela's unraveling. Growing up in a poor neighborhood of Caracas, his generation faced blackouts, food shortages and the crumbling of institutions. Before moving to the U.S., he spent six years in Colombia with his partner and daughter, maintaining a clean record, according to Colombian authorities. Inspired by friends who had successfully built new lives in America, he decided to emigrate. Now, he regrets that choice. 'If everything changes in the U.S., I'd go back just to visit — to see places I've always dreamed of,' he said. 'But I wouldn't try to build a life there again. This government is destroying the future of many Hispanics, especially Venezuelans.'
