Top photos from Latin America and the Caribbean
June 20-26, 2025
Chileans got dressed up for a Gay Pride parade, cricket players from Australia and West Indies faced off on the Caribbean island of Barbados and Indigenous people in Bolivia and Ecuador marked the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice.
Colombians who pick up trash to sell as recycled material blanketed Bogota's main plaza with plastic bottles to protest decreasing income and tougher conditions for scavengers, and Venezuelans carried Iranian flags at a demonstration organized by the government against Israel's war on Iran. Tampa Bay Rays' shortstop Wander Franco was found guilty of sexual abuse and received a 2-year suspended sentence.
This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The selection was curated by AP photo editor Leslie Mazoch based in Mexico City.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Ecuador's most-wanted drug lord found beneath trapdoor
After a year on the run following a sensational prison escape, Ecuador's most wanted fugitive, Fito (pictured), was recaptured by cops - with the help of his three-year-old daughter. The ruthless gang leader's prison break triggered a wave of violence in the country, but now, he faces extradition to the US to face multiple felony charges. His arrest came after his own daughter accidentally revealed his location, giving cops a chance to swoop in. Before his escape in January 2024, he had been held in prison, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for organised crime, drug trafficking, and murder. Real named Jose Adolfo Macias Vilamir, Fito has also been charged in absentia by American prosecutors with seven counts of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms-related crimes, including weapons smuggling. His breakout from an Ecuadorian prison resulted in a drastic surge of gang-related violence that lasted several days and left 20 people dead. The country's president, Daniel Noboa, declared a 60-day state of emergency in multiple provinces following the violence. Despite a months-long manhunt, he evaded capture until the president revealed on Wednesday that he had finally been apprehended. He was discovered hiding in a kitchen bunker in Manta, his hometown. According to local media, officers stormed a luxury home and lifted a trap door to reveal his hiding spot. A month ago, several members of his family were arrested. Authorities also raided their businesses and confiscated many assets. The country's interior minister, John Reimberg, described the move as a "psychological operation". Police ramped up their investigation when they noticed a municipal transit official had stopped showing up to work months ago. Trailing him led them to Fito's inner circle, according to a national police commander. It was established that the official often went to a plush three-storey building, the same one Fito was hiding in. The home came equipped with marble floors and walls, a huge swimming pool, a well-equipped gym, and a game room. There were brand new sofas still wrapped in plastic and TVs that were still in their boxes. Heavily armed men infiltrated the home when Fito's daughter accidentally revealed his location. Surrounding streets in the neighbourhood were blocked off as cops conducted the 10-hour-long operation. In the detailed sting operation, drones were deployed to gain a better understanding of the compound. After an extensive search, Fito was discovered hunkered down in an air-conditioned bunker in the kitchen. Police brought in heavy machinery for excavation, forcing Fito to come out when he realised he could be crushed to death. Describing the moment, Reimberg said: 'When this happened, Fito panicked. He opened the hatch where military and police personnel were located and left the hole.' Within minutes, he was on the ground with guns pointed at his head, as police forced him to repeat his name out loud. It's not the first time Fito had escaped from prison - he did so in 2013 but was captured after three months. Ecuador has seen a huge increase in gang related crimes in recent years. As the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Fito was responsible for some of the gang's most gruesome antics. These includes car bombings, kidnappings, and many brutal murders. After he escaped from prison, Fito also became a suspect in the assasination of Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential hopeful who ran as an anti-corruption crusader. His jailbreak led to prison riots where four officers were taken hostage. Additionally, masked armed men stormed a television station during a live broadcast. According to US prosecutors, Fito's gang has close ties with Mexico's Sinola cartel and the two worked to control drug trafficking routes between South America and the US. Officials in the States congratulated Ecuador on X for Fito's capture. A $1million cash prize was set aside for information that could lead to his arrest. President Noboa now says he is waiting for the US to make contact with him about Fito's extradition. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison. Fito took control of Los Choneros after the gang's former boss Jose Luis Zambrano died in December 2020. He is seen as a matyr by many in the prison system with murals of him painted on many jail walls. While locked up, the country's president criticised the privileges he enjoyed, including a socket to charge his phone. According to the the president, Fito also had an internet router outside his cell.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Crime costs Chile $8 billion a year as violence chokes economic growth
SANTIAGO, June 27 (Reuters) - La Piojera in downtown Santiago has been a lively bar for over a century, drawing locals and tourists with typical Chilean foods, drinks and music, but now its doors are shutting earlier and sales are plummeting as rising crime has strangled the country and the economy. Chile is losing an average of 2.6% of its gross domestic product, about $8.2 billion a year, due to rising crime according to a study released by CLAPES UC, a research center at Chile's Universidad Catolica. The report attributed the economic impact due to businesses, like La Piojera, closing earlier or shutting down in high-crime areas, the loss of investment and increased spending in security. "My sales are down 60%," Mauricio Gajardo, manager of La Piojera, told Reuters on a Saturday night, when only a few patrons were at the bar. Gajardo said La Piojera used to be full at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night and would close past midnight. Now, on average, he closes at about 8:30 p.m. "The city helped me with a few municipal guards, but people still insist the area is dangerous," Gajardo said. Other businesses are trying another approach, offering discounts to customers to keep them throughout the night. "After 10 p.m. we've noticed our business drops ssignificantly," said Cristian Gonzalez, manager of Bar & Vuelvo. "So we try to prepare and face this with discounts or offers after 11 or 12 at night." Chile has seen an uptick in murders since 2016, rising to 6.0 in 2024 from a low of 2.32 per 100,000 in 2015. The elevated rate is still one of the lowest in Latin America, but researchers say this makes the economic impact more significant than a similar rise in more dangerous countries like Colombia or Mexico. "Countries (with a high murder rate) have in some way normalized the situation and the impact of a rise in the murder rate is less when the rate is already very high," said Leonardo Hernandez, a professor and one of the authors of the study. This has been the case for Jose Tomas Rodriguez, a local university student, who says he and his friends have already changed the way they go out. "It's not just me, but my whole social circle, we're changing our routine and going out earlier, maybe go out in the afternoon," Rodriguez said. "I think it's something that everyone has been changing."
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Former Greens candidate may lose sight after being arrested in Sydney protest at alleged Israel technology supplier
A former Greens candidate has been injured after allegedly resisting police arrest while picketing a business in Sydney's west, with friends and family warned she may lose sight in her right eye. The protest, which attracted between 50-60 people, sought to stop pedestrian access to a business that was accused by protesters of 'supplying electroplating and surface coating services for a variety of applications including aerospace and defence technology' to Israel. The Greens allege the company is reportedly 'involved in providing plating services for various parts used in F-35 jets' used by the Israeli military. According to police, officers issued a move-on direction to the protesters around 5:30am on Friday morning. The force alleged the protest was 'unauthorised', as those involved had not given advanced noticed nor submitted a form that protected them from being charged under anti-protest laws. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Hannah Thomas, who ran against Anthony Albanese in the Sydney electorate of Grayndler, allegedly declined to comply with the order and was forcibly removed and arrested. Police said Thomas, 35, sustained facial injuries during the arrest and was taken to Bankstown hospital for treatment. Images of Thomas online show her right eye was badly swollen and bruised. It is not known how the injury was sustained. 'As police attempted to arrest the protesters who were not complying with the directions, a scuffle ensued between police and protesters, during which a police body worn camera was taken by an unknown protester,' the police statement continued. New South Wales Greens MP Sue Higginson said the protest was peaceful and claimed Thomas was the 'victim of brutal excessive force by the police'. 'The last we heard, about an hour ago, was that Hannah was still in a state, the extent of her injuries were unclear,' Higginson said. 'The prognosis provided to family earlier was that they could not tell the extent of her injuries until there was a full examination because the swelling was too severe and that it was possible she may lose vision in that eye. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'That she may have sustained injuries to the bones of her face, but nothing has been confirmed at this point in time.' One of those arrested, Zack Schofield, 26, alleged the force used by police was 'excessive' and 'will be put into question'. Schofield was charged with allegedly failing or refusing to comply with a move on direction. Higginson said Thomas's friends and family were 'all deeply stressed and anxious about the injuries that she sustained.' The Greens MP said all protests were lawful and that those 'reserving their right to engage in non-violent civil disobedience deserve to be treated fairly, respectfully and non-violently under the laws of NSW'. 'For the police to say this was an unauthorised protest is just a nonsense narrative,' Higginson said. 'All protests are lawful in terms of the gathering of people on public land.' Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the police had displayed 'atrocious behaviour' and that she was 'shocked' by the arrests and injuries sustained. All five people arrested were granted conditional bail to appear before Bankstown local court on 15 July.
