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BOSTON — This week is The Latino Newsletter’s 100th week as a publication, and we are also celebrating our two-year anniversary this month. For today’s Startup Journey post, I want to show you what our work looks like in practice and how your donations fuel us. If you missed my May 4 post about why I founded The Latino Newsletter in the first place, give it a read here.
Our Puerto Rico Work
Last October, our San Juan Bureau deputy editor, Carlos Berríos Polanco, published a story based on documents he had obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Those documents showed that the FBI and the Puerto Rico Police had discussed a pro-independence activist group, Jornada Se Acabaron Las Promesas (JSALPPR), during a domestic terrorism meeting in August 2024 and that the federal agency had collected information about the group going back to 2018.
The Post-Story Response
The response to Carlos’ story was significant, especially for a small nonprofit outlet like ours that is trying to uplift accountability reporting on the archipiélago. Over 40 organizations signed an open letter of repudiation, and the Puerto Rico Police superintendent addressed Carlos’ story at a press conference. El Nuevo Día, Teleonce, Telemundo PR, Metro PR, Radio Isla 1020, and Cátedra 580 all covered it, specifically citing The Latino Newsletter. JSALPPR and La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción held their own press conference in response.
Doing this kind of reporting consistently — obtaining documents, filing FOIA requests, tracking them, verifying details, reaching out to sources, publishing — does not happen without investment. It takes time, money, and a team deeply committed to the communities it covers. Building trust is hard, but The Latino Newsletter has already earned it, and we want to continue the work.
This is where you come in.
What Your Support Funds
Here is what your donation goes toward directly to support stories like the ones Carlos has been filing for us for over a year now:
$75: An hour of research or overall FOIA/court record access (that’s around $6/month for a recurring donation)
$250: A full day of reporting in Puerto Rico (that’s around $20/month for a recurring donation)
$750: A week of San Juan bureau operations (that’s around $62/month for a recurring donation)
As I will say all month, we’re running a birthday campaign with a goal of $25,000. Every contribution — no matter the amount — makes more of this work possible.
JRV
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What We’re Watching (and Listening to)
A New “The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York” podcast: Over at Futuro Media, a new podcast about the history of Fania Records will launch on May 26.
“Hosted by Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress and Brooklyn native @rosieperezbrooklyn, this new original series goes back to 1964, when a Dominican musician and an Italian-American ex-cop founded a scrappy little record label called @faniarecords in New York City and accidentally sparked a global cultural revolution,” Futuro noted on its Instagram.
Under the Radar: I was a guest of Callie Crossley’s “Under the Radar” show this weekend on GBH, along with fellow guest Christina Silva of The Boston Globe. Yes, I finally got to talk about the Red Sox firing Alex Cora. (Fun fact: I have been making regular appearances on Callie’s show since 2012.)
ALX100 Honorees: Finally, I just want to thank the team at We Are ALX for the lovely ALX100 event last Friday afternoon at the JFK Library in Dorchester. Fellow The Latino Newsletter board member Antonio Cabán and I were honorees.
Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. He is also its current part-time publisher and executive director. He edited and published this edition.