The Center for Investigative Journalism has gone to court more than 50 times and pried open government files on deaths, missing persons and other public records.
When police told journalists from the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI) in Puerto Rico that 1,000 people go missing every year on the island –which is home to about 3.2 million people–, they wanted to investigate further.
It wasn’t just a shocking number; it led to more questions. Who are these people? Where did they go missing from? And what happened to the people who disappeared after Hurricane Maria in 2017?
“You receive the alert, but you never find out whether or not these people turn up. So that was the initial curiosity,” Omaya Sosa—journalist, special projects editor and co-founder of the CPI—told the LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). She and colleague Jeniffer Wiscovitch were given the figure after filing a request for information with authorities.
Following up on the data, in November 2025, the duo asked for a detailed list of persons who went missing between 2014 and 2025. They wanted names, where they lived, the last place they were seen, date of disappearance, sex and age.
First, the journalists say they were told that some of the requested data was confidential.
After insisting, the journalists said they finally began receiving the information in batches; however, the answers did not consist of databases, but rather of large volumes of missing-person notices, which are typically sent to the press to aid in searches.
After five months into this process, the CPI had received only 732 responses. Based on the police’s own figure—that 1,000 people go missing annually—and taking into account that data covering a full 10-year period had been requested, the information provided amounted to less than 10% of the 10,000 individuals who should have been listed in the records.
“This is all we have,” Sosa said, repeating the police’s response when confronted about the meager information provided over the course of five months.
As a result, on April 20, the CPI sued the Puerto Rico Police before the Court of First Instance for failing to provide this information.
Los abogados Luis José Torres Asencio y Steven P. Lausell Recurt de la Clínica Legal de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Interamericana junto a las periodistas Omaya Sosa y Carla Minet, directora ejecutiva del CPI. (Foto: Brandon Cruz González / CPI)
“We are taking them to court as well because, during the process, we discovered that there are regulations requiring them not only to possess the information and maintain records, but also to maintain a database containing that information,” Sosa said. “We are in the 21st century. Billions of dollars are invested in technology in Puerto Rico; how is it possible that you hand me paper photocopies?”
On May 14, the State responded to the lawsuit, arguing—among other points—that the requested information had already been provided and that the remaining information was confidential, Luis José Torres Ascencio told LJR. Torres Ascencio is the co-director of the Information Access Clinic at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law, which represents the CPI in these legal proceedings.
“We are obviously going to oppose this. We will argue that the grounds for confidentiality being invoked in this case are invalid —first, because there is no expectation of privacy for missing persons, as the information in question is data that the government voluntarily makes public,” said Torres, who confirmed that they are required to file their response early this month. “Secondly, because in Puerto Rico, the right of access to information is a fundamental right, and confidentiality classifications must satisfy strict standards of scrutiny.”
LJR requested statements from the Puerto Rico Police through its communications office, but by deadline for this article, it had not received a response.
Information regarding missing persons is only the latest instance in which the CPI has had to turn to the courts to access information that it says should be public. In a little over 16 years, the organization –alongside the Interamerican University– said it has successfully pursued at least 50 public information access lawsuits against the government of Puerto Rico.
Sosa, who co-founded the CPI with Óscar Serrano in 2008, said that the struggle for the right of access to information is part of the very essence of the CPI. In addition to continuing their investigative journalism, they sought to strengthen the right of access to information through an economically viable litigation program.
Their prior experience in media had demonstrated to them that many investigations required legal support to access information. The Interamerican University opened its doors to them—not merely in a physical sense, but by offering the opportunity to establish a Clinic that would enable its last-year students, led by experts from the School of Law, to handle cases like CPI’s.
“Our project seeks to vindicate the right of access to information—not merely as a claim in itself, but because the information to be obtained, or sought, will alter the terms of the public conversation regarding matters of great importance in the country,” Torres said. “We want our cases to have that impact—to drive changes in public policy or to expose instances of corruption, fraud and illegality, thereby strengthening what is called democracy.”
One of the cases that best illustrates this struggle for access to information—and its impact on society—involved mortality statistics in Puerto Rico, both Sosa and Torres said.
The petition originated during coverage of Hurricane Maria and its impact on Puerto Ricans. While authorities initially insisted that the death toll from the hurricane stood at 16 –a figure they later raised to 64– on-the-ground reporting revealed a different reality. Without electricity, internet access, or—at times—even telephone service, journalists walked the streets of the island, observing that the authorities were not providing accurate figures.
Continuing its reporting, in February 2018, the CPI filed a complaint against the director of Puerto Rico’s Demographic Registry for failing to release information regarding deaths that occurred during the hurricane. In June of that year, the Puerto Rico Court of First Instance ordered the release of that information to the parties—a group that also included CNN en Español—after which the government announced it would turn over the data.
The investigation—which Quartz and later the AP joined—led to the special report “Maria’s Dead.” However, access to death certificates led to other investigations, such as those involving deceased individuals voting or COVID-19 death figures.
Sosa said that on at least seven occasions, they have had to return to court to obtain information regarding death certificates, despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ruled that they are public records.
“When they could no longer fight, they changed the law to make that information expressly confidential,” she said.
Sosa, who has been an investigative journalist for 30 years, says that accessing information is becoming increasingly difficult and that it is necessary to go to court over “nonsense.”
“Almost all investigations that are uncomfortable for the government end up in a lawsuit,” Sosa said. “And I must say with great sadness that, instead of improving over the years, the situation has worsened significantly.”
It is not just a feeling. Torres explained that, at the end of 2025, various amendments were approved that hinder access to information.
For instance, it is becoming increasingly common to encounter information deemed confidential—such as death certificates—or to face other requirements, such as the stipulation that the heads of any given agency must be notified every time information related to that agency is requested.
The deadlines for the delivery of information have also increased. They went from 10 business days to 20, and the extension period increased from 10 days to another 20. In other words, it could take up to two months for the data to reach a journalist. And if the government appeals after being ordered to release the information, the process could drag on for years.
For this reason, the journalists at the CPI have realized that their investigations cannot wait for data to be handed over to them; instead, they must employ the tools of the most fundamental journalism. Just as they did with the fatalities from Hurricane Maria, they must go out, report, verify and build their own databases. When the requested information finally arrives, it serves to allow them to compare and verify the data they have already collected.
“On-the-ground journalism assisted by digital tools and technology that help us structure information and see the complete picture,” Sosa said.
This article was translated with AI assistance and reviewed by Teresa Mioli
