Paulina Villegas

Washington D.C.

Freelance writer

Education: Columbia University, M.S. in Journalism

Paulina Villegas is a freelance writer. She was a staff writer at The Washington Post on the general assignment desk, where she covered national and breaking news, from summer 2020 until December 2023. Previously, she worked at the New York Times' Mexico and Central America bureau, where her work focused on drug crime, government corruption and human rights issues. Her work on the TV documentary “El Chapo’s Son: The Siege of Culiacán,” won a News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in 2020. She has reported from more than a dozen countries in Latin Ame
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Latest from Paulina Villegas

As repression in Nicaragua deepened, one bank kept the money flowing

How foreign development loans helped the Ortega regime build a brutal police state in Nicaragua.

August 22, 2024
Police and protesters clash in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, on April 20, 2018, following pension cuts and an increase in taxation.

Pause in fighting, transfer of hostages to start Friday, Qatar says

Israeli strikes continues to pummel Gaza in the tense lead-up to a delayed four-day “pause” in fighting, as part of a deal to free hostages in an exchange.

November 23, 2023

Army identifies Special Operations soldiers killed in ‘mishap’ over Mediterranean

A helicopter crash killed troops training in the eastern Mediterranean, officials said. A statement said “there are no indications of hostile activity.”

November 13, 2023
A helicopter takes off from a U.S. military base in eastern Syria in 2019. The Pentagon said a helicopter crash over the weekend killed five U.S. service members aboard a helicopter in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Communications could go out this week, Palestinian official says; health care on the brink

A Palestinian official warned that communications and internet networks in Gaza will go out by Thursday if it does not get fuel for generators.

November 12, 2023
Effects of the destruction from a bombing in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, Nov. 12.

CIA director in Israel as U.S. pushes for hostage release

Dozens of people were killed and wounded in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.

November 6, 2023

Israel increases troops, tanks in Gaza; U.S., Netanyahu reject calls for cease-fire

Washington pressured Israel to restore communications in the Gaza Strip and negotiated with Israel to speed up aid into Gaza, U.S. officials told The Post.

October 30, 2023
Rockets and "light bombs" over the Gaza strip on Monday, Oct. 30.

Manhunt for suspect in Maine shootings that left 18 dead continues

Robert Card, 40, was named as a suspect in the deadliest shooting of 2023. At least 18 people were killed and 13 were injured, Gov. Janet Mills said.

October 27, 2023

IDF apologizes for blast at Egyptian border post; U.S. senators visit Tel Aviv

Border watchmen were injured by Israeli tank fire, Egyptian military authorities said Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces said it “regrets the incident.”

October 22, 2023

World is at an ‘inflection point in history,’ Biden says in rare Oval Office speech

President Biden will discuss the U.S. response to developments in Israel and Gaza during an Oval Office address Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern, the White House said.

October 20, 2023

1.1M in northern Gaza should evacuate within 24 hours, Israel tells U.N.; Blinken visits Jordan

The United Nations considers such a mass movement impossible “without devastating humanitarian consequences,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

October 16, 2023
A convoy of Israeli armored vehicles advances near the border with Gaza on Thursday.