Paulina Villegas

Washington D.C.

Reporter covering breaking and national news.

Education: Columbia University, M.S. in Journalism

Paulina Villegas is a General Assignment reporter covering national and breaking news. Previously, she worked at the New York Times' Mexico and Central America bureau, where her work focused on drug crime, government corruption and human rights issues. Her work on the TV documentary “El Chapo’s Son: The Siege of Culiacán,” won a News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in 2020. She has reported from more than a dozen countries in Latin America.
Latest from Paulina Villegas

Mexican volcano spews ash and smoke as authorities urge caution

Popocatépetl, Mexico's second largest volcano, has been spewing ash onto an area accustomed to such rumblings, but authorities are telling them to be cautions.

May 23, 2023

Ukraine live briefing: Kyiv focuses attacks on Bakhmut’s outskirts; G-7 summit yields more aid

Ukrainian forces are hoping to encircle Russian troops in the eastern city of Bakhmut, where Ukraine’s presence has dwindled.

May 22, 2023

Ukraine live briefing: Biden meets Zelensky at G-7, announces $375M aid package including ammunition, weaponry

After Russia claimed control of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the city was destroyed and “only in our hearts,” paying tribute to its defenders.

May 21, 2023

New Mexico shooting suspect, 3 people dead with multiple injured

The gunman fired from at least three guns including an AR-style rifle before being killed, Farmington, N.M., police said.

May 16, 2023

Para los exiliados nicaragüenses, la libertad es aún una promesa esquiva en Estados Unidos

Separados de su país y su familia en Nicaragua, los ex prisioneros políticos enfrentan las complejidades de vivir en el destierro en Estados Unidos.

May 12, 2023

For exiled Nicaraguans, freedom rings hollow in the U.S.

Severed from home and family in Nicaragua, former political prisoners struggle to build new lives in the U.S. as they watch their country unravel from afar.

May 12, 2023

Driver of SUV in crash that killed 8 had drugs in his system, police say

The SUV struck a group of migrants, most of them recent arrivals from Venezuela, at a bus stop near a migrant shelter. Ten others were wounded.

May 9, 2023

Driver George Alvarez charged in Brownsville, Tex., crash that killed 8

The crash, for which police have not yet determined a motive, occurred Sunday in front of a center for migrants who have crossed the nearby U.S.-Mexico border.

May 8, 2023

Six suspects arrested, charged in Dadeville mass killing

The four suspects were each charged with four counts of reckless murder, state law enforcement said.

April 21, 2023

Alabama birthday party shooting leaves 4 dead, 28 injured

Four people died and 28 suffered injuries, some critical, after a shooting in Dadeville, Ala., during a 16-year-old’s birthday party, community leaders say.

April 16, 2023