WHO ARE WE?
Contracorriente is a digital media outlet that strives for in-depth and investigative journalism in transmedia formats. Legally, we are a Society of Limited Responsibility; Producciones Red Comunica, Investiga y Conecta S. de R.L. whose founders are; Jennifer Alejandra Avila Reyes, Catherine Aurora Calderón Mercado and Héctor Alejandro Maradiaga Cibrian. Currently, the company belongs to Jennifer Alejandra Avila Reyes and Catherine Aurora Calderón Mercado.
GET TO KNOW
OUR JOURNEY
The idea for Contracorriente came out of the explosion of the outraged movement in Honduras in 2015. This global movement, which blossomed from social media, also had an impact in the streets of this small Central American country after the looting of the Honduran Social Security Institute by public workers with links to the National party. They directly rerouted funds from public health to the political campaign of then presdent, Juan Orlando Hernández, who illegally tried to get re-elected.
It was at this time that various journalists started to come together in order to talk about the importance of reporting what happens in Honduras and of using new technologies to do so in an innovative and different way to the sort of journalism that the majority of the population was consuming.
A dream started to grow and was consolidated with the support of other regional networks that were having similar conversations about the need for inspiring digital journalism in Honduras. Jennifer Avila, Honduran journalist and documentary maker, and Catherine Calderón, freelance journalist and consultant put out the call and got together in order to start to talk. From there, we started to write articles in our spare time, with our own money. The first step was to exist and consolidate ourselves as a team. The steps that followed were more complicated.
We want to be media that covers Honduras’ story in a way that is fair to the people and that makes those who use their power to plunder the state and sell the country at the price of the people’s dignity, uncomfortable. We are in a country where the truth is denied and justice is a utopia. We believe that citizens should have access to accurate and current information in order to be able to make decisiones. We think that in Honduras, we need to be aware, not just survive.
OUR STRATEGIES ARE:
Describing the causes and consequences of social issues in Honduras and the region, and creating a new generation of journalists to tell Honduras’ story.
And because all this requires resources, we are constantly designing a business model that allows us to be independent and to survive as we work.
ABOUT OUR BUSINESS MODEL
We request funds from international organizations and institutions, and through scholarships and projects. We also obtain financial resources by selling communication services; consultations regarding media work, designing campaigns, audiovisual production, fixer services, and English-Spanish translations for various media formats and training workshops on journalism and communication.
Contracorriente operates with a copyleft license or Peer Production, where only non-profit people, cooperatives, or entities can share or re-use the work, but it can’t be used for profit by commercial entities whose aim is to obtain economic benefits from using it, but without any explicitly reciprocity for the common good.
One of the biggest worries we have about doing the type of journalism that we want to in this country, is the risk we face as we traverse the streets of Honduras, where the majority of murders of journalists have not been punished and where institutions are weak and unable to protect the victims - something we definitely don’t want to become.
We want our audience to be able to support the journalism we do, and to accompany us as we swim against the current.
Financing Partnerships
Strategic Alliances
TEAM Contracorriente
Jennifer Alejandra Ávila
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Journalist, co-founder, and editorial director of Contra Corriente. Winner of the LASA Media Award 2020.
CC articles and content
CATHERINE AURORA CALDERÓN
DIVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Co-founder of Contra Corriente and head of development. She covers topics such as gender, LGBTQI rights, violence, and youth. METIS fellow 2019.
CC articles and content
MARILYN ABIGAIL MOLINA
GENERAL MANAGER
A young feminist with eight years of administrative experience. She also has freelance experience working with women’s rights organizations in Honduras, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
ANNY GABRIELA VELÁSQUEZ
Head of Accounting
General accountant, with a master’s degree in finance. With experience in areas of financial and tax auditing. In charge of the accounting area of Red Comunica y Conecta Productions
FERNANDO ALEXANDER SILVA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
An investigative journalist withContracorriente. Writing about corruption, power structures, and extractivism. Took the investigative journalism course for Latin America from Columbia University and was part of the team that won the Ortega y Gasset prize in 2020 for Best Investigative Reporting.
VIENNA MARIA HERRERA
EDITOR
An investigative journalist in Contracorriente. Right now covering stories about women’s rights, extractivism, environment, and power structures. Part of the Tierra de Resistentes team, finalist for the Gabo prize in 2020.
ALLAN BÚ DÍAZ
Journalist
Local journalist in northern Honduras. Reporter of politics, health and economy.
¬ Publications
» allanbu@contracorriente.red
MARIA CELESTE MARADIAGA
IN DEPTH INVESTIGATION JOURNALIST
Journalist and creator of content for social networks. She covers current affairs on gender and sexual and reproductive rights, extractivism, environment and power structures in Contracorriente.
¬ Publications
» contenido@contracorriente.red
MARIA EUGENIA RAMOS
COPY EDITOR
Writer, with extensive experience in proofreading and editing. He loves reading and knowing stories, writing them from time to time and accompanying them. Selected by the Guadalajara International Book Fair as one of “The 25 best kept literary secrets in Latin America.”
¬ Publications
PERSY CABRERA PINTO
CONTENT PRODUCER
Persy Cabrera was born in Tegucigalpa in 1997. He graduated with a technical bachelor’s degree in electricity from the Saúl Zelaya Jiménez Technical Institute and studied electrical engineering at the UNAH before going on to study journalism. He is currently a cultural journalist at Contracorriente. He likes movies, series, anime, manga and books. He plays soccer and is a sports enthusiast in general.
ALEX FERNANDO DESTEPHEN
Photojournalist
Fernando Destephen was born in 1985 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is a photojournalist and story teller.
¬ Publicaciones en CC
» fotografo1@contracorriente.red
José Reniery Flores
DRIVER
DANIEL DERAS FAJARDO
Development Assistant
YENCI MILANI BUSTILLO
Administrative Assistant
University student with skills in multidisciplinary tasks. Graduated with a high school diploma in Informatics. Currently working as an Administrative Assistant.
RAFAEL EDUARDO ROMERO
WEBMASTER
Social communicator, oriented to implementation and optimization of digital processes and platforms.
EDITORIAL COUNCIL 2024
Danielle Mackey
is an American journalist who covers Central America. He lived for more than a decade in El Salvador. He works part-time at The New Yorker magazine and writes for various American and Central American media, in addition to his frequent collaboration with Contracorriente.
Social networks:
Instagram: @danielle_mackey
Daniellemariemackey.com
Daniellemariemackey.com
Pere Ortin
He is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. Creator of the critical journalistic-artistic movement #PeriodismoDaDá. His latest works include the production of the documentary series “Booklovers” (2023-24) and the publication of his first graphic novel “Ten Thousand Elephants” (2022). Professor of journalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has been an innovation jury for the Gabo Journalism Prize.
Social networks
X: @Gorikortin
www.pereortin.com
Amelia Frank-Vitale
is an anthropologist focused on issues of Central American migration in transit through Mexico and the consequences of deportation for young people in urban areas of Honduras. She is currently a professor in the Human Rights Program at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Social networks:
X: @frankvitale
www.ameliafrankvitale.com
Tomas Ayuso
He is a Honduran writer and documentary photojournalist. His work focuses on Latin American conflicts, especially the war on drugs, diasporas, and urban dispossession. He is also a National Geographic Explorer, focusing on the different human movements of Latin America. Since 2021, Ayuso has been on photography and journalism juries for World Press Photo and in 2023 she served as part of the global jury representing North and Central America. In addition to developing personal projects and preparing work assigned by media, universities and galleries, Ayuso teaches journalism and photography classes and training in different underrepresented communities in the Americas.
Social networks:
www.tomasayuso.com
Instagram: @tomas_ayuso
Agustina Grasso
She is an Argentine journalist, documentary filmmaker and university professor. Founder of the Escrito Crónica portal and director of the documentaries Trash and Transition Energética in Argentina. He writes for the América Futura section of El País. Author of Chronicles of a Millennial. He gave talks at the Buenos Aires Book Fair, in Barcelona, New York, Medellín, Tulum and Honduras.
Social networks:
Instagram: @cronistamillennial
www.escrituracronica.com
