Pulitzer Center

Narco State

Child Sacrifice

Dying for Treatment

Marco’s Pulitzer Center trilogy of projects investigates the surge of narco terrorism in West Africa, the social and geopolitical aftermath of drug trafficking in the Sahel region, as well as people trafficking and related murder practices in Uganda. Marco also developed an awareness campaign with focus on maternal health, in Guinea-Bissau.

NARCO STATE investigates the link between South American drug cartels and the Political and Military establishments of Guine-Bissau. By witnessing the local dynamics of trafficking, and the progressive fall of a nation into a spiral of violence, Marco’s investigation shed light on the reasons behind the murder of President Nino Viera, few hours after a bomb had killed the Chief of Staff, Batista Tagme Na Waie.

CHILD SACRIFICE investigates a complex, criminal murder practice that causes hundreds of victims in Uganda, targeting specifically children. The phenomenon consists in an elaborated fraud scheme based on superstition, fuelled by fear, and sealed by the indiscriminate killing of children, in order to use their organs for ritual purpose. The investigation, contributed to the work of Supreme Court lawyer and former Amnesty International regional director Richard Omongole, who battled the criminal phenomenon with a law bill intended to stop the wave of murders.

DYING FOR TREATMENT investigates the state of maternal health in Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region on Earth. In the region, more than 600,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth every year due to lack of proper care and only 30 percent of the population has access to health care at all. The situation in Guinea-Bissau is among the worst in the region. In the capital, Bissau, there is only one working, equipped surgery room. One in eight women die giving birth and babies often don’t survive the first two days of their lives.

Organization

Position

Grantee (Investigative Journalism · Documentary)

Media

Time, New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Sunday Times, Internazionale, VQR, Global Post, El Pais, BBC, FRIJ, Suddeutsche Zeitung, L'Espresso, Frontline Iwitness CBC, Huffington Post, Le Monde

Awards

World Press Photo Award 2010, 1st Prize GNS · PGB Best Picture of the Year, 1st Prize · PGB Picture Story of the Year, 1st Prize · Lens Culture Award 2009, 1st Prize · ODP Award for Human Values 2009 · ASME Award 2011 (finalist)