MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ

Religion reporter

Hernández is a reporter on the AP’s global religion team. She is based in Mexico City and covers Latin America.
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
By mid-2024, Claudia Sheinbaum will most likely become Mexico’s first female president. She would also be its first leader with a Jewish background in a country that’s home to nearly 100 million Catholics.
 
Claudia Poblete poses for a photo in front of a mural depicting the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo group, at the former Navy School of Mechanics, known as ESMA, now a human rights museum, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, March 22, 2024. Poblete is one of the 133 “recovered grandchildren” of Argentina. Her biological family found her years after she was abducted as an infant during the country’s military dictatorship. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Abducted as babies in the 1970s, these Argentines found a way toward their true identity
Claudia Poblete and Pedro Alejandro Sandoval are two of the 133 “recovered grandchildren” of Argentina.
 
FILE - Members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo protest in San Martin Square in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 21, 1977. Week after week, since April 1977, the mothers of disappeared children have gathered at the square that provided the group with its name, despite being discredited during the dictatorship as “crazy” and “terrorists.” (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia, File)
Their children disappeared in Argentina’s dictatorship. These mothers have looked for them since
After the military kidnapped their children during Argentina’s dictatorship in the 1970s, each Mother of Plaza de Mayo made a commitment: I will search for you until my last breath.
 
FILE - Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Friday, March 1, 2024. General Elections are set for June 2. Mexico’s presidential candidates on Monday, March 11, 2024, signed a commitment for peace with Catholic Church leaders that proposes strategies to reduce the violence in the country.(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Mexico’s presidential candidates sign commitment for peace with church leaders concerned by violence
Mexico’s presidential candidates on Monday signed a commitment for peace with Catholic Church leaders that proposes strategies to reduce the violence in the country.
 
FILE - Firefighters and rescue workers search through the rubble of the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center after a car bomb rocked the building on July 18, 1994. It was the worst bombing attack on civilians in Argentina’s history, killing 85 and injuring 300. It came two years after a 1992 bombing on the Israeli embassy in Argentina, killing 29. (AP Photo/Alejandro Pagni, File)
A bomb destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994. What has happened since?
Three decades have passed since the worst bombing attack on civilians in the history of Argentina, and no one has been convicted yet.
 
A mural covers the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. It was the worst bombing attack on civilians in Argentina’s history, killing 85 and injuring 300. It came two years after a 1992 bombing on the Israeli embassy in Argentina, killing 29. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Israel-Hamas war brings back pain to Argentine Jewish community decades after major bombing attack
On Oct. 7, when Hamas militants stormed numerous Israeli locations, killing hundreds and abducting others, Marina Degtiar and other members of Argentina’s Jewish community felt like traveling back in time, to July 18, 1994.
 
A mural of Argentine former first lady María Eva Duarte de Perón, better known as Eva Perón, or Evita, depicting her with a saint's halo, adorns a wall inside the Peron Peron restaurant in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Here’s why many Argentinians are devoted to a first lady who died in 1952
Far from Argentina, few people may know much about Eva Perón, widely known as “Evita.” But the former first lady, who died in 1952, is a constant presence in her home country.
 
Rosa Hernández shows a photo of her late daughter Rosaura Almonte in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. Hernández asked for an exception for her daughter to get an abortion in order to use chemotherapy as her leukemia treatment, but was denied because that would put the fetus at risk of death in the Dominican Republic where abortion is criminalized without exceptions. Both her daughter and daughter's 13-week-old fetus died in 2012. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
What does a total abortion ban look like in Dominican Republic?
In Latin America, only Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic maintain total abortion bans.
 
Teenage club members wear shirts that reads in Spanish "I take care of my body and my heath" at a session on sex education at a school on the weekend in Azua, Dominican Republic, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. To help girls prevent unplanned pregnancies in a country where abortion is illegal, activists have developed “teenage clubs,” where adolescents learn about sexual and reproductive rights, self-esteem, gender violence, finances and other topics. (AP Photo/Maria Hernandez)
How Dominican women fight child marriage and teen pregnancy while facing total abortion bans
The Dominican Republic is one of four Latin American countries criminalizing abortion without exceptions.
 
Nun Maria de Jesus Frayle, 24, holds a tray with fried Christmas figures at the Mothers Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament convent in Mexico City, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. It's the fortnight before Christmas and all through the world's Catholic convents, nuns and monks are extra busy preparing the traditional delicacies they sell to a loyal fan base even in rapidly secularizing countries. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
Convent-made delicacies, a Christmas favorite, help monks and nuns win fans and pay the bills
As Christmas approaches, Catholic nuns and monks are busy preparing the traditional delicacies they sell to a loyal fan base even in rapidly secularizing countries.
 
A green scarf with a message that reads in Spanish: “To decide is sacred, just and necessary” adorns an altar to the Virgin Mary, in the office of the Catholics for the Right to Decide, in Mexico City, Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. Members of the organization denounce the invisibility of women in some religious environments and advocate for the reinterpretation of sacred texts with a feminist perspective. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Catholic activists in Mexico help women reconcile their faith with abortion rights
In Mexico, activists from Catholics for the Right to Decide are helping women reconcile their faith and abortion rights.
 
Professor Naoko Kihara, who has practiced Hanayagi-style dance for over two decades, stands in her studio during an interview in Mexico City, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. Born in Brazil from Japanese parents who later moved to Mexico City, she carries on the legacy of Tamiko Kawabe, her mentor and pioneer of Hanayagi-style dance. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
In Mexico, a Japanese traditional dancer shows how body movement speaks beyond culture and religion
Unlike the fast-moving interpreters of samba, salsa and other Latin American dancing styles, Japanese traditional dancers move slowly, performing just a few moves that their bodies keep fully controlled.
 
Presidential hopeful Eduardo Verastegui flashes a thumbs up at supporters during a rally to collect signatures to enable him to run as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, in San Bartolo del Valle, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. Rallying all over the country to fulfill the task of gathering 1 million signatures by early January, the 49-year-old right-wing activist has ignited controversy in this deeply Catholic nation, where abortion activists and the LGBTQ+ community lead advocacy campaigns of their own.(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Christian conservatives flock to former telenovela star in Mexico’s presidential race
While most Mexican politicians refrain from clarifying where they stand on religion, abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, former telenovela actor and right-wing activist Eduardo Verástegui prays on TikTok and claims that getting closer to God changed the course of his life.
 
A man poses for a photo wearing a costume during a Muerteada parade in San Jose, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. Mexicans in the Oaxacan town celebrate the traditional Muerteada, a theatrical recreation that is performed through the night of November 1 until the early morning of the following day, with dances and music parading through the streets, while telling the story of how a deceased person is resurrected with the help of a priest, a doctor and a spiritist. (AP Photo/Maria Alferez)
Welcome to Mexican “muerteadas,” a traditional parade to portray how death can be as joyful as life
Mexicans in Oaxacan towns as San Agustín and San José Etla celebrate their traditional “muerteadas,” a festivity that stretches for several nights and locals regard as part of their identity.
 
People sit around a child's tomb in the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery during Day of the Dead festivities on the outskirts of Mexico City, early Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. In a tradition that coincides with All Saints Day on Nov. 1 and All Souls Day on Nov. 2, families decorate graves with flowers and candles and spend the night in the cemetery, eating and drinking as they keep company with their dearly departed. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
With flowers, altars and candles, Mexicans are honoring deceased relatives on the Day of the Dead
Mexicans in the state of Oaxaca are celebrating the Day of the Dead.
 
A stained-glass dome titled The Second Innocence, the Dream of Dionisyos, by Italian artist Narcissus Quagliata decorates the El Santuario Resort hotel in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Over the last five decades, Quagliata has created these stained-glass artworks for sacred spaces, private homes and public exhibitions, using a fusible glass technique. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
Renowned glass artist and the making of a gigantic church window featured in new film
A renowned glass artist in Mexico played a key role in the creation of a gigantic church window in the U.S.
 
Mexican migrants, many from Michoacan state, attend a religious service at the "Embajadores de Jesus" Christian migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. While many places in Mexico provide shelter for migrants from other countries, some shelters in Tijuana have seen an influx of Mexicans fleeing violence, extortion and threats by organized crime. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)
Violence forced them to flee. Now faith sustains these migrants on their journey to the US
Among the thousands of migrants reach the U.S. border each day are many Mexican victims of organized crime who are fleeing violence and asking for protection.
 
Members of the reproductive rights organization "Colectiva Bloodys y Projects" hold a banner that reads in Spanish "We decide free abortion" outside a public hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. The organization has supported reproductive rights near the U.S.-Mexico border since 2016. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)
As Mexico expands abortion access, activists support reproductive rights at the U.S. border
A recent ruling by Mexico’s Supreme Court ending federal criminal penalties for abortion will eventually expand access to the procedure.
 
An Aymara Indigenous woman shows handwoven woolen crafts made on the sidelines of a fashion show showcasing Indigenous creations at Zofri Mall in Iquique, Chile, Saturday, July 29, 2023. The Agricultural Development Institute of Chile organized the show to boost camelid farming and craft sales. (AP Photo/Ignacio Munoz)
Inspired by llamas, the desert and Mother Earth, these craftswomen weave sacred textiles
In the middle of the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, the colors and patterns of Aymara textiles are inspired by the land that is considered sacred.
 
Helmut Kramer poses for a portrait in Santiago, Chile, Thursday, July 27, 2023. Kramer, 53, said he was sexually abused at age 12 in a Jesuit school in Antofagasta, a city in northern Chile. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
In Chile, justice eludes victims of Catholic clergy sex abuse years after the crisis exploded
A clergy sex abuse scandal involving Chile’s most notorious pedophile, the priest Fernando Karadima, shook the South American country in 2010 in a way never seen in Latin America.
 
Archive folders line the shelves at the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicariate of Solidarity, in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The shelves preserve thousands of instances of human rights violations during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The Catholic Church defended human rights during Chile’s dictatorship. An archive tells the story
The archive of the Vicariate of Solidarity gives an account of a painful episode in Chile’s history: 47,000 instances of human rights violations during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who took power after a military coup that deposed President Salvador Allende 50 years ago.
 
FILE - Demonstrators protest outside the Jesuit-run Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) demanding the university's allocation of its share of 6% of the national budget in Managua, Nicaragua, Aug. 2, 2018. Founded by Jesuits in 1960, UCA has historically rejected authoritarianism and offered support for students committed to fighting for deep social transformations. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)
Alumni grieve for Jesuit-run university seized by Nicaraguan government that transformed their lives
The government of President Daniel Ortega described the Jesuit-run University of Central America in Nicaragua as a “center of terrorism” and seized its property, buildings and bank accounts on August 16.
 
Leticia Santiago poses for a portrait in Oaxaca, Mexico, Sunday, July 16, 2023. The 35-year-old was elected as Centéotl goddess in late June, which means she’ll represent the Aztec deity of maize for a year and lead all festivities during the Guelaguetza festival. (AP Photo/Maria Alferez)
Mexico’s native ethnic groups promote their heritage during Oaxaca’s biggest cultural festival
The festival of Guelaguetza – the biggest cultural event in southwestern Mexico – showcases the traditions of 16 Indigenous ethnic groups and the Afro-Mexican community.
 
Moises Vega gives an interview at the Volcano Museum in Amecameca, Mexico, near the Popocatépetl volcano, Sunday, June 11, 2023. The 64-year-old Mexican says he can speak the sacred language of volcanoes to ask for good weather and a good crop. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)
Meet the Mexican spiritual leader preserving the sacred knowledge of the volcano known as El Popo
The 64-year-old says he can speak the language of volcanoes.
 
American Pastor Kenton Moody, left, walks arm in arm with a young man who was in prison for belonging to a gang, during a break on the grounds of the “Vida Libre” or “free life,” rehabilitation center, in Santa Ana, El Salvador, Saturday, April 29, 2023. The gang rehabilitation program was founded in El Salvador in 2021 by Moody. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)
Pastors find a role ministering to young men swept up in El Salvador’s crackdown on gangs
Over the past 15 months, El Salvador’s security forces have jailed tens of thousands of people in a massive crackdown on the country’s notorious gangs.
 
Fabricio Chicas, a transgender man, right, poses for a photo with his partner Elizabeth Lopez, and their pets, at their home in San Salvador, El Salvador, Sunday, April 30, 2023. Even though the country’s Supreme Court in 2022 determined that the inability of a person to change their name because of gender identity constitutes discriminatory treatment, the 49-year-old has not been able to change his name from Patricia to Fabricio, nor his gender on his ID, a fate shared by many transgender people in El Salvador. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)
In El Salvador, transgender community struggles for rights and survival
Transgender people in El Salvador face violence and discrimination in their deeply religious country.
 
A tourist takes a photo backdropped by the "Alegoria de la Virgen de Guadalupe" mural, in the main entrance of the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. The mural was created by Mexican artist Fermin Revueltas between 1922 and 1923, when the walls of San Ildefonso became the canvases where the muralist movement came to life. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
How Mexico City’s mural movement transformed walls into art
A century ago, artists in Mexico began transforming walls into works of art, fueling the country’s burgeoning muralist movement.
 
Residents gather to watch the burning of a cardboard figure representing Judas at the Santa María La Ribera Cultural Center, in Mexico City, Saturday, April 8, 2023. Every Holy Saturday Mexicans prepare for the traditional "Burning of Judas". During this activity on the sidelines of the Catholic Church's Holy Week celebrations, people gather in neighborhoods across the country to burn cardboard figures of Judas representing the embodiment of evil. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Mexican artisans create ‘Judas’ figures for others to burn
During the “Burning of Judas” celebrations that take place every Holy Saturday in some Mexican neighborhoods, people gather to light fireworks that destroy colorful figures embodying evil.
 
A monolith depicting Coyolxauhqui is exhibited at the Museum of Templo Mayor, marking the 45th anniversary of the circular stone’s discovery, in Mexico City, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. “Coyolxauhqui: The star, the goddess, the discovery” exhibition displays more than 150 archaeological objects focused on the mythology, symbolism and scientific research around the Mexica lunar goddess. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
New exhibit explores significance of Mexica’s lunar goddess
A new exhibit hosted by Museum of Templo Mayor in Mexico City marks the 45th anniversary of the discovery of a monolith depicting the Mexican lunar goddess, Coyolxauhqui (pronounced Koy-ol-shauw-kee).
 
Members of the Marea Verde Chihuahua collective meet at their headquarters in Chihuahua, Mexico, Monday, March 13, 2023. The organization of volunteers has supported reproductive rights in northern Mexico since 2018, providing virtual guidance as well as shipments of abortion pills for women who want to terminate a pregnancy on their own, sparking requests from the U.S. after the Supreme Court eliminate the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. (AP Photo/Adriana Esquivel)
Activists’ network in Mexico helps U.S. women get abortions
A network of abortion-rights activists in Mexico is finding ways to offer assistance -- including shipments of abortion pills -- to women in the United States affected by recently imposed abortion bans in several states.
 
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