Best of AP — Honorable Mention

Breaking news from Sweden on secret Venezuela talks, sanctions

Aritz Parra, Madrid-based chief correspondent for Spain and Portugal, and Joshua Goodman, Bogota-based Andes news director, for teaming up to score two exclusives related to Venezuela, breaking the news that secret talks were underway in Sweden, and that European countries were readying sanctions against the Maduro regime. The pair used their vast network of sources on both sides of the Atlantic to confirm vague rumors on social media that diplomats from Russia, the U.N., Cuba and the EU were meeting in Sweden, a scoop that stunned even Swedish media, which widely cited AP. Two days later they followed up with the scoop on potential EU sanctions, including a preliminary list of Venezuelan officials that would be targeted.

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