Latin America

Pedestrians walk past soldiers guarding a bridge in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, after President Dina Boluarte declared a state of emergency following the killing of a popular singer amid a surge in violence in the capital. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Troops on the streets of Lima as Peru’s government calls state of emergency to tackle crime wave

The residents of Lima were told to expect added security on their journeys into work after Peru’s government declared a state of emergency in the capital city to tackle a crimewave and increasing violence.
 
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro arrives at a rally on Copacabana Beach in support of a proposed bill to grant amnesty to those arrested for storming government buildings in an alleged coup attempt in 2023, in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Lawmaker son of Brazil’s Bolsonaro announces relocation to the US as father faces legal woes

 
Police guard access to Izaguirre Ranch in Teuchitlan, Jalisco state, Mexico, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Alfredo Moya)

Armed men seen on video targeting group searching for relatives in Jalisco

 
A young supporter of bullfighting joins a demonstration in support of bullfighting outside Mexico City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate its continuation in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Mexico City bans violent bullfighting, sparking fury and celebration

 
Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno, File)

The parents of a US student who vanished in the Dominican Republic ask that she be declared dead

 
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a ceremony to raise the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag at the State Department, Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FBI applauds Mexico’s arrest and handover of ’10 Most Wanted’ gang figure

FBI Director Kash Patel applauded Mexican authorities Tuesday for the arrest and handover of one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” suspects, an alleged gang leader from El Salvador.
 
This undated photo provided by Johanny Sanchez shows Sanchez, right, and her husband Franco Caraballo, who was sent over the weekend to El Salvador accused by the Trump administration of belonging to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. (Johanny Sanchez via AP)

Immigrants disappear from US detainee tracking system after deportation flights

Weekend flights by U.S. immigration authorities set off a frantic scramble among terrified families after hundreds of immigrants disappeared from the government’s online locator for detainees.
 

12 killed in Honduras plane crash, including Garifuna musician Aurelio Martínez Suazo

A small commercial plane crash off the coast of Honduras left 12 people dead, including a well-known Garifuna musician.
 

Antigua’s leader rejects allegations that his government withheld details of yacht sale and proceeds

The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda is dismissing allegations that his administration has not been transparent about the sale of a seized megayacht and how the proceeds were used.
 
President Gustavo Petro addresses supporters during a rally he called to back his labor and health reform proposals, which have struggled to gain legislative approval, outside Congress in Bogotá, Colombia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombia’s president at a rally calls for a special election on labor and health reforms

President Gustavo Petro has urged supporters to “rebel” against centrist and right-wing politicians who have blocked efforts to reform Colombia’s health system and labor laws.
 
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, left, and Marie-Claude Bibeau, a Canadian member of parliament representing Compton-Stanstead, talk at a roundtable event about the Trump administration's tariffs with U.S. and Canadian business owners, Tuesday, March 18, 2025 in Newport, Vt. (AP Photo/Amanda Swinhart)

Breweries and maple syrup producer among Vermont businesses hit by Trump’s tariffs on Canada

Business owners from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border have gathered in Vermont to share their experiences with the sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
 

A new deal will increase amount of liquefied natural gas delivered to Puerto Rico in face of outages

A new partnership between U.S. maritime company Crowley and Spain-based Naturgy Energy Group has been announced.
 
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte speaks to the press during a visit by Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia at the government palace in Lima, Peru, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo, File)

Peru declares an emergency and deploys the army as violence surges in the capital

Peru’s president declared a state of emergency in the capital and deployed soldiers to help police address a surge of violence, amid widespread outcry a day after the killing of a popular singer.
 

US federal judge allows attorneys to subpoena financial records in Antigua yacht case

A federal judge in New York has granted the attorneys of a Russian woman permission to issue subpoenas to access the financial records of Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister and other officials involved in the sale of a megayacht that her father had abandoned.
 
Soldiers raid the Tocorón Penitentiary Center, where the Tren de Aragua gang originated, in Tocorón, Venezuela, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

The Tren de Aragua gang started in a Venezuelan prison. Now US politics are focusing on it

It’s a local threat to some and a full-on invasion to U.S. President Donald Trump. Debates over Trump’s hardline migration policies are focused on the ruthless Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
 
People displaced by gang violence take refuge at a Mormon church converted into a shelter in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Gunmen attack convoy evacuating medical staff after aid group in Haiti temporarily shutters hospital

Doctors Without Borders says that four of its vehicles came under fire while they evacuated staff from a hospital in Haiti’s capital as gang violence surges.
 
Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)

Search for US student in Dominican Republic intensifies

The search for a U.S. college student who went missing in the Dominican Republic intensified on Monday after a man questioned by authorities visited the beach where she was last seen and spoke with officials.
 
A depiction of a smuggler videoing migrants walking through the desert for later posting on social media based on hundreds of TikTok videos reviewed by the AP. (AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)

How migrants are sold an American dream in a digital world

Social media apps like TikTok have become an essential tool for smugglers and migrants alike. The videos posted by smugglers offer a rare look inside a long elusive industry and the narratives used by trafficking networks to fuel migration north.
 
Jean Morose Viliena, a former mayor of a town in Haiti, departs federal court, Monday, March 20, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

A Haitian ex-mayor is on trial, charged with lying about rights abuses to get US residency

The former mayor of a town in Haiti is on trial after authorities say he lied on his U.S. visa application about rights abuses in his country.
 
Jhoan Bastidas gives an interview at his father's house in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, after being deported from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. (AP Photo/Juan Arraez)

After a stint in Guantanamo Bay, a Venezuelan deported from the US adjusts to his homeland

Jhoan Bastidas is just starting to make sense of it all. How he is back in the once-prosperous hometown in Venezuela that he left as a teenager.
 
A street vendor walks along the Malecon looking for customers during a general blackout in Havana, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Electricity gradually returns to Cuba after substation failure left millions in the dark

Electricity service in Cuba is gradually being restored more than 36 hours after a substation failure left the entire island in the dark.
 
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro gestures to the crowd upon arriving at a rally on Copacabana Beach in support of a proposed bill to grant amnesty to those arrested for storming government buildings in an alleged coup attempt in 2023, in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Supporters of Brazil’s Bolsonaro protest on Copacabana Beach to defend him after coup charges

Thousands of backers of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro have poured onto Copacabana Beach to express their support for the far-right politician as he faces charges of plotting a coup.
 
In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)

Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members.
 
A classic American car with tourists is driven at sunset along the Malecon during a general blackout in Havana, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Cuba suffers major power outage after substation failure leaves millions without electricity

Millions of people in Cuba are without power after a failure of the nation’s electric grid left the island in the dark.
 
Jailed, former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, attends his trial on charges of rebellion at a police base on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Peru’s detained ex-President Castillo ends hunger strike after four days, authorities say

Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo has ended a four-day hunger strike that he began in protest of his ongoing rebellion trial, judicial authorities announced.
 
Police stand guard outside the entrance to Izaguirre Ranch where skeletal remains were discovered in Teuchitlan, Jalisco state, Mexico, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandra Leyva)

Killing site in Jalisco, Mexico just the latest in a long series of gruesome discoveries

Prosecutors in the western Mexican state of Jalisco have confirmed the discovery of many clothing items and bone fragments by a group of people searching for relatives at a previously known cartel training site.
 

Colombian diplomat hit by a stray bullet in Sao Paulo as a robbery attempt was taking place nearby

Authorities in Brazil say a Colombian diplomat has been wounded by a stray bullet in Sao Paulo. Local police said that Vice Consul Claudia Ortiz Vaca was passing by a robbery attempt on a vehicle in central Sao Paulo on Sunday.
 
Tourists walk in front of the Tuco glacier in Huascaran National Park during a tour called the "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru, Aug. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)

Peruvian farmer’s case against German energy giant RWE could reshape global climate accountability

A groundbreaking climate lawsuit is heading to trial in Germany next week, with Peruvian farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya challenging German energy giant RWE.
 
A protester in a Joker costume takes part in a demonstration by soccer fans and retirees demanding higher pensions and opposing austerity measures implemented by Javier Milei's government in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

March 7-13, 2025

Soccer fans joined retirees in demanding higher pensions and opposing austerity measures implemented by President Javier Milei’s government in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 
Guatemalan soldiers patrol the shared border with Mexico as part of the Ring of Fire operation, aiming to strengthen border control, at the mouth of Suchiate River in Ocos, Guatemala, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Guatemala steps up patrols along border as US extends border security goals south

As the United States government works to effectively extend its border security objectives south into Central America, countries like Guatemala have come under renewed scrutiny and pressure to step up their own border enforcement.
 
This photo released by the Jalisco State Attorney General's Office shows shoes at the Izaguirre Ranch where skeletal remains were also discovered in the municipality of Teuchitlan, Mexico, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Jalisco State Attorney General's Office via AP)

Mexicans searching for missing relatives uncover possible mass killing site in Jalisco state

When a group of citizens searching for missing relatives in the western state of Jalisco arrived at a remote ranch outside Mexico’s second-largest city last week on an anonymous tip, all they had to do was push open the unlocked gate.
 

Peru passes law critics claim will hamper the ability of NGOs to defend human rights

Peru’s Congress has passed a controversial reform expanding the powers of a government agency which oversees international aid.
 
Mariana dam disaster victims, from right, Pamela Fernandes, Gelvana Rodrigues, Monica dos Santos and former interim mayor of Mariana, Juliano Duarte, holding a banner outside the High Court, in London, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

London judge to rule on whether mining company is liable in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster

A lawyer has argued in a London Court that global mining giant BHP should be held liable for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster 10 years ago when a dam collapse released toxic mining waste that killed 19 people and devastated villages.
 
A displaced woman rests in a shelter for people fleeing their homes to escape gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025.(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Gangs unleash new attack on Haiti’s capital as police vow to hold them back

A powerful gang coalition has launched new attacks on Haiti’s capital, while police vow to hold the gunmen back.
 

Accused Guatemalan drug trafficker wanted in US is captured in Mexico

One of Guatemala’s most wanted drug traffickers has been captured in Mexico and returned to Guatemala to await extradition to the United States.
 
Colombian President Gustavo Petro watches a military ceremony where his new Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez formally takes command of the military in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombian president calls for referendum on health and labor reforms that have stalled in congress

Colombian President Gustavo Petro says he will call for a special election in which voters will be able to approve or reject labor reform and health reform, which have been stalled for months in congress.
 
From left, Colombian Air Force Commander Gen. Luis Carlos Cordoba, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez, President Gustavo Petro and Armed Forces Commander Adm. Francisco Cubides, review the troops during a military ceremony where Sanchez formally takes command of the military in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombia’s new defense minister vows to reclaim territory lost to rebel groups

Colombia’s newly appointed defense minister says he will focus on taking back territory lost to rebel groups that have forced thousands to flee their homes this year.
 
The debris of an airplane that crashed the previous day lays in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, early Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Brazilian authorities suspend the airline involved in last year’s crash that killed 62

Brazil’s aviation agency has suspended the operating license for local airline Voepass, citing security risks as an investigation continues into a deadly crash in August.
 
Cuban doctors arrive at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Cuba, June 8, 2020, after traveling to Italy to help with the COVID-19 emergency response. (Ismael Francisco/Pool via AP, File)

Caribbean leaders oppose US policy targeting Cuban medical missions, saying they’re critical

Caribbean leaders are pushing back against a new U.S. policy that aims to crack down on Cuban medical missions, saying that the work of hundreds of Cuban medical staff across the region is essential.
 

Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire calms and evacuees return home

Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire appeared calm and nearly 300 families who had evacuated their homes on its slopes as it began erupting returned home.