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>> Octavio Rivera

Octavio Rivera

Michoacán, Mexico; South Texas

Investigative Journalism

I was born in a small town in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. More than half the people born in that state live in the United States today. Exile, in Michoacán, was (is) like a form of manifest destiny. I moved to Mexico City at age 16 to study journalism. After graduation I worked as a reporter and editor for some years. In 2004 I moved to South Texas, where journalism gave me the possibility to witness the blazing stories of the border. After seven years I returned to Mexico. I worked as a freelance and as editor in several media outlets, most of them digital. Meanwhile I earned a master’s degree in Sociology. I am currently the Program Officer of the Border Center for Journalists and Bloggers, a non-profit organization created in South Texas that aims to train Mexican journalists and fund investigative journalism projects against corruption at the bi-national border. I am Emiliano’s dad, the best thing that has ever happened to me, and am learning to play the accordion.

Octavio Rivera - Under The Volcano