Latin America

Students protest for more public university funding and against austerity measures proposed by President Javier Milei, featured on the sign, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. The posters read in Spanish "With fascism, there are no rights," center, and "Why so much fear to educate the people?," right, and "Defending the university is defending the country," left. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

With public universities under threat, massive protests against austerity shake Argentina

A worsening budget crisis at Argentina’s public universities is sending thousands of protestors into the streets as libertarian President Javier Milei pushes ahead with radical austerity measures.

Police stop at a car to inspect in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Haiti’s government scrambles to impose tight security measures as council inauguration imminent

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regularly scheduled morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The head of Mexico’s detective service says his country is the ‘champion’ of fentanyl production

A man shows a pump removed from an unlicensed water intake as his group of residents, farmworkers and small-scale farmers from Villa Madero dismantle illegal water taps in the mountains of Villa Madero, Mexico, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. As a drought in Mexico drags on, angry subsistence farmers have begun taking direct action on thirsty avocado orchards and berry fields of commercial farms that are drying up streams in the mountains west of Mexico City. (AP Photo/Armando Solis)

Angry farmers in a once-lush Mexican state target avocado orchards that suck up too much water

FILE - Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. If elected, Sheinbaum would be Mexico's first leader with a Jewish background in a country that’s home to nearly 100 million Catholics. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Mexico’s likely next president would be its first leader with a Jewish background

FILE - Boats sit docked around the exposed banks of the El Penol-Guatape hydroelectric dam, due to low water levels, in Guatape, Colombia, April 3, 2024. Colombia’s government on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, rolled out new incentives to reduce electricity consumption in the South American nation, which has been hit by a severe drought that has diminished the capacity of local hydroelectric plants and brought officials close to imposing power cuts. (AP Photo/Fredy Amariles, file)

Colombia rolls out new incentives to cut electricity consumption as dry weather persists

Colombia’s government is rolling out new incentives to reduce electricity consumption in the South American nation, which has been hit by a drought that has diminished the capacity of local hydroelectric plants and brought officials close to imposing power cuts.

Leonardo Favio Correa carries yerba mate to a truck in Andresito, in Argentina’s northeast Misiones Province, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Beneath the earthy drink’s mythical quality is grueling work, first performed by Indigenous tribes on Jesuit settlements in what is now Paraguay and today by low-paid laborers known as “tareferos,” in the steamy grasslands of Argentina’s northeast Misiones Province, center of the world's maté production. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

AP PHOTOS: In northeastern Argentina, yerba mate is more than the national drink, it’s a way of life

ANDRESITO, Argentina (AP) — For millions across the heartland of South America, bitter-tasting yerba mate tea is a beloved staple of social gatherings and morning routines.

Cuban writer Leonardo Padura poses for a portrait at his home in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Padura has managed to turn his series of detective novels into a social and political chronicle of Cuba, especially his native Havana. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Writer Leonardo Padura chronicles life in Cuba as his detective ‘alter ego’ solves gripping crimes

Cuban writer Leonardo Padura has managed to turn his series of detective novels into a social and political chronicle of Cuba, especially his native Havana.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy attend a press conference at the U.S. ambassador's residence, in Mexico City, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Nelson and Melroy, both former astronauts, spent two hours chatting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Tuesday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

NASA leaders discuss global challenges, solutions with Mexico president, lawmakers and students

In a frequently tense relationship often defined by a shared border, the United States sent two officials with a different perspective to Mexico this week for a bit of space diplomacy.

FILE - Marc Baptiste is treated for a bullet wound at a Doctors Without Borders emergency room in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, April 19, 2024. Baptiste said police in an armored vehicle shot him the previous day as he was collecting wood to sell as kindling in an area controlled by gangs. Haiti's health system has long been fragile, but it's now nearing total collapse after gangs launched coordinated attacks on Feb. 29, targeting critical state infrastructure in the capital and beyond. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

Haiti health system nears collapse as medicine dwindles, gangs attack hospitals and ports stay shut

Life-saving medication and equipment is dwindling or altogether absent at hospitals and clinics across Haiti’s capital as brutal gangs tighten their grip on Port-au-Prince and beyond.

Dominica joins other Caribbean islands in striking down laws prohibiting gay sex

A top court in the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica has struck down colonial-era laws criminalizing gay sex.

Canadian family receives wrong body after father died on Cuban vacation

A family in Quebec is searching for answers after discovering that their father’s remains didn’t make it to Canada from Cuba, where he died while on vacation, and instead received the remains of another man.

Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, left, passes a piece of paper during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuela’s president meets with accuser in ongoing criminal probe into human rights abuse

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with the head of the International Criminal Court as he faces an ongoing investigation by the tribunal into crimes against humanity for his crackdown on anti-government protests.

FILE - Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum greets supporters during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. Masked men stopped a vehicle carrying Sheinbaum, Mexico’s leading presidential candidate, while she was traveling between campaign stops Sunday, April 21, to ask that she address the violence in the southern state of Chiapas if she wins the June 2 election. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario, File)

Mexico’s leading presidential candidate stopped by masked men who ask for help in stemming violence

Masked men stopped a vehicle carrying Mexico’s leading presidential candidate while she was traveling between campaign stops to ask that she address the violence in the southern state of Chiapas if she wins the June 2 election.

Anti-government demonstrators march to protest economic and social reforms pushed by the government of President Gustavo Petro and his proposal to convene a constituent assembly in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Tens of thousands of Colombians protest against the leftist president’s reform agenda

Thousands of Colombians have taken to the streets in the latest rebuke of leftist President Gustavo Petro’s reform agenda.

A police officer stands guard on a street in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, April 8, 2024. President Javier Milei has promised to prosecute gang members as terrorists and change the law to allow the army into crime-ridden streets for the first time since Argentina's brutal military dictatorship ended in 1983. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

An unprecedented wave of narco-violence is stunning an Argentina city

A river port city in Argentina was once well-known as the birthplace of soccer superstar Lionel Messi and revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has been banned from running for office, attends a rally where she asked supporters to keep the faith, in San Antonio, Venezuela, April 17, 2024. On Friday, April 20, 2024, all 10 parties in the chief opposition coalition announced they would back an unknown former diplomat, Edmundo González, to be their candidate on the July 28th ballot. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

Venezuela’s opposition backs unknown former diplomat in latest gambit to unseat Maduro

Venezuela’s opposition is rallying behind an unknown former diplomat to challenge Nicolas Maduro in this summer’s presidential election.

Mexican police investigate a man as a possible serial killer after finding bones and a saw

Mexico City police say they are investigating a murder suspect as a possible serial killer after bones, a saw, blood and the ID cards of missing women were found at a room he rented.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a rally marking the 22nd anniversary of the late President Hugo Chavez's return to power after a failed coup attempt, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Pedro Rances Mattey)

Venezuela’s main opposition bloc agrees on candidate to challenge Maduro in presidential election

Venezuela’s main opposition coalition has agreed to unite behind former diplomat Edmundo González as its challenger to President Nicolás Maduro in this July 28 election.

People ride on a motorcycle in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Haiti’s former capital seeks to revive its hey-day as gang violence consumes Port-au-Prince

They call it Okap, home to Haiti’s kings, emancipated slaves and revolutionaries. Sitting on Haiti’s shimmering north coast, the city of Cap-Haïtien was abandoned as a capital during the waning years of the French colonial era and again when the Kingdom of Haiti fell after its king died by suicide a

The Supreme Court stands in Panama City, Monday, April 8, 2024 as the trial starts for those charged in connection with the worldwide “Panama Papers” money laundering case. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

Panama Papers trial’s public portion comes to an unexpectedly speedy end

The public portion of a Panamanian trial of more than two-dozen associates accused of helping some of the world’s richest people hide their wealth has come to an unexpectedly speedy conclusion.

Mexican families searching for missing relatives unite to draw attention to their plight

Dozens of women and men have searched a garbage dump and other sites outside Mexico’s capital for missing loved ones without the protection of authorities.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regularly scheduled morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

2 mayoral candidates killed in Mexico, bringing the number slain so far to 17

Two mayoral candidates in Mexico have been killed, bringing to 17 the number of contenders slain in the lead-up to the June 2 elections.

Dominican prosecutors arrest soldier accused of raping a 14-year-old

Dominican authorities have ordered the arrest of a Dominican soldier accused of raping a 14-year-old Haitian girl while searching for immigrants in the country illegally near the upscale resort town of Punta Cana.

FILE - Rogelio Jiménez Pons, director of Fonatur, points to photos of a planned train through the Yucatan Peninsula, during an interview in Mexico City, March 18, 2019. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is in a rush to finish the big legislative and building projects he promised before his term ends in September 2024, chief among the projects are railway lines, like the Mayan Train. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Mexico’s president is getting a little sloppy in the rush to finish projects before his term ends

Mexico’s president is in a rush to finish the big projects he promised before his term ends in September, and experts say officials are getting a bit sloppy amid all the haste.

Laura Siegemund of Germany celebrates after defeating Carolina Alves of Brazil during their Billie Jean King Cup tennis match in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

April 12 - 18, 2024

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced the creation of two new Indigenous territories.

The Supreme Court stands in Panama City, Monday, April 8, 2024 as the trial starts for those charged in connection with the worldwide “Panama Papers” money laundering case. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

A trial is underway for the Panama Papers, a case that changed the country’s financial rules

Eight years after 11 million leaked secret financial documents revealed how some of the world’s richest people hide their wealth, more than two dozen defendants are on trial in Panama for their alleged roles.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara arrive to the closing ceremony of the 1st Ordinary Meeting of the National Council for Indigenous Policy, in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The council, dissolved in 2019, was revived in 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Brazil’s president creates two new Indigenous territories, bringing total in his term to 10

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has announced the creation of two new Indigenous territories, bringing the total number of new reserves created during his term to 10.

FILE - Elon Musk arrives at the 10th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee published a staff report on Wednesday, April 18, disclosing dozens of decisions by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordering X to suspend or remove around 150 user profiles from its platform in recent years. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP file)

US committee releases sealed Brazil court orders to Musk’s X, shedding light on account suspensions

A U.S. congressional committee has released confidential Brazilian court orders to suspend accounts on the social media platform X.

FILE - Members of the military raise the flag of Sweden, as other other alliance member flags flap in the wind, during a ceremony to mark the accession of Sweden to NATO at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Monday, March 11, 2024. Argentina on Thursday, April 18, 2024, requested to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Argentina asks to join NATO as President Milei seeks a more prominent role for his nation

Argentina has requested to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment.

Presidential candidate Jose Raul Mulino, center, campaigns in the San Miguelito neighborhood of Panama City, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. The former foreign minister is one of eight candidates competing in the upcoming May 5th presidential election. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

Panama’s presidential frontrunner skips third and final debate ahead of May 5 election

Six of the eight candidates vying to be Panama’s next president have laid out their plans to generate jobs and to manage the country’s water crisis in their final debate before the country’s May 5 election.

People wait in line to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Voters go to the polls on July 28th. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

US reimposes oil sanctions on Venezuela as hopes for a fair presidential election fades

The Biden administration has reimposed crushing oil sanctions on Venezuela in a rebuke to President Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to consolidate his rule just six months after the U.S. eased restrictions in a bid to support now fading hopes for a democratic opening in the OPEC nation.

FILE - El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks to the press at Mexico's National Palace in Mexico City, March 12, 2019. Authorities confirmed on April 17, 2024 that Bukele released the father of a Salvadoran soccer player Marcelo “El Chiky” Díaz from prison after the athlete from Salvador's national team published a plea for his release on social media, saying his father was wrongfully arrested as a suspected gang member on the way to see him play. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

El Salvador’s Bukele releases father of soccer player from prison after son’s plea on social media

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has released the father of a Salvadoran soccer player from prison after the athlete published a plea for his release on social media.

Immigrants line up to attend a city council hearing on disparities in immigration services for Black immigrants at City Hall in New York on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Black immigrant rally in NYC raises awareness about racial, religious and language inequities

Black immigrants have turned out in the hundreds across from a City Hall, drawing attention to racial inequities in the city’s shelter and immigrant support systems.

A seller waits for customers despite not having electricity due to a programed power cut by the ministry of energy, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Ecuador faces electricity rationing due to a prolonged drought and high temperatures that have reduced flows to the main hydroelectric plants. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Ecuador rations electricity as drought persists in the northern Andes

Ecuador has started to ration electricity in its main cities as a drought linked to the El Niño weather pattern depletes reservoirs and limits output at hydroelectric plants.

US files 2nd labor complaint after Mexico refuses to act on union-busting by a Mexican company

The United States has filed a labor complaint panel after Mexico refused to act on alleged union-busting by a Mexican company. The U.S.

A boat that was carrying decomposing corpses is lifted to shore by authorities at the Vila do Castelo port in Braganca, Brazil, early Monday, April 15, 2024. Security forces and forensics were dispatched to the area after fishermen reported on Saturday spotting the boat off the coast of Para state. (AP Photo/Raimundo Pacco)

9 bodies found adrift in a boat off Brazil were likely migrants from Mauritania and Mali, police say

Brazilian police investigating the discovery of a boat with several dead bodies say they were likely African migrants from Mali and Mauritania.

Pope Francis kisses a new born as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis sides with Peruvian villagers who accused Catholic group of trying to steal their land

Pope Francis has sided with a group of Peruvian villagers who have complained that companies linked to a powerful South American church group have tried to evict them from their land using lawsuits and obscure land titling schemes.

A worker washes a motorcycle at an ecological carwash in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, April 12, 2024. Water rationing in the capital began on Thursday due to the low level of water in reservoirs that give drinking water to the capital, a consequence of the El Niño weather phenomenon. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombia’s capital starts rationing water after reservoirs hit historically low levels

A severe drought has pushed Colombia’s capital to start rationing tap water. Officials in Bogota moved to ration water starting this week after reservoirs hit historically low levels due to the combination of high temperatures and lack of rainfall prompted by the El Niño climate phenomenon.

Canadian soldiers stand guard on the rooftop of their embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Transitional council in Haiti to choose new leaders is formally established amid gang violence

A transitional council tasked with choosing Haiti’s next prime minister and Cabinet has been formally established as gangs tighten their grip on the troubled Caribbean country.