AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

Feb. 21-27, 2025

Transgender women took a salsa class ahead of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Ecuadorians demanded the government pay overdue debts to private clinics in order to access free dialysis. Young Venezuelans gave a concert on the 50th anniversary of the country's national system of youth orchestras in Caracas.

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 photographer Matías Delacroix, based in Panama City.

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Father Lorenzo de Vedia, better known as "Toto," center right, arrives for evening Mass where he offered up prayers for the good health of Pope Francis, amid a power outage in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Band musicians perform during a pre-carnival celebration in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Members of the Jewish community sing the Israeli anthem while gathering in support of relatives of the hostages and victims of the October 7 massacre and to demand Hamas release the remaining hostages, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A woman embraces a statue of José Gregorio Hernandez, the physician known as the "doctor of the poor", in Valencia, Venezuela, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. Pope Francis on Tuesday approved a decree to canonize Hernandez, making him Venezuela's first saint. (AP Photo/Jacinto Oliveros)

A man walks in a parking garage during a power outage, in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Basualdo)

A friend grieves as he rests his head on a case holding the remains of Mexican musical legend Paquita la del Barrio during a memorial tribute at Plaza Garibaldi, in Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Migrants board a boat at the Caribbean coastal village of Miramar, Panama, bound for the Colombian border, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, as migrants return from southern Mexico after abandoning hopes of reaching the U.S. in a reverse flow triggered by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Edinson Cavani of Argentina's Boca Juniors reacts during a Copa Libertadores soccer match against Peru's Alianza Lima at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

Youth raise their instruments during a concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of Venezuela's national system of children and youth orchestras in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Maria Sambueza shows her arm affected by years of dialysis during a protest by people with kidney deficiencies outside Carondelet presidential palace as they demand the government pay overdue debts to private clinics so they can continue to get free dialysis in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. The sign at left reads in Spanish, "They die waiting! The lack of payment isn't a delay, it's a death sentence." (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Transgender women take a samba class at the Paraiso de Tuiuti samba school ahead of the Carnival parade in Rio Janeiro, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Israel's increasingly isolated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, but no meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump is planned.

Hamas says the militant group is ready to move forward with the next stages of a Gaza peace agreement, while a top European Union official says only a small amount of the funds needed to rebuild the war-shattered Gaza Strip has been collected.

Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.

The Israeli prime minister's brief stay in New York for his speech at the U.N. General Assembly includes meetings with several world leaders, according to his office — but not Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or any Arab leaders.

Netanyahu's office said “many world leaders” asked to meet with him but that he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday.

Netanyahu will meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, and Ethiopia, the vice president of Colombia, and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea, according to his office.

A Hamas spokesman said the group is ready to move forward with the next steps of a peace agreement, after Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a six-month, $2.45 billion plan for Gaza's reconstruction. The board announced the proposal in New York on Wednesday.

The Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, expressed the Palestinian militant group’s “full readiness to implement the Board of Peace’s roadmap” but made no mention of any disarmament plans. Israel has said it will not allow reconstruction to move forward until Hamas disarms.

Hamas last year agreed to a plan that includes disarmament but has since traded accusations with Israel of ceasefire violations and has accused Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to occupy much of Gaza.

Hamas has publicly backed handing over power to Palestinian administrators operating under the Board of Peace.

Board officials have blamed Hamas' failure to disarm and a lack of Israeli withdrawal as reasons for stalling progress in advancing reconstruction in Gaza.

A top EU official says only 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) has been raised out of the 71 billion euros ($80.8 billion) that the United Nations, the World Bank and the 27-nation European Union estimate are needed to rebuild Gaza.

“All of us, we have to scale up our efforts,” said European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica, speaking on the sidelines of the General Assembly. She called for a unified recovery plan that would bring together Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the U.S.-backed Board of Peace, and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

The world body has appealed to all parties in Yemen to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered rapidly as renewed fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces intensifies an already dire humanitarian situation.

U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said people fleeing the violence need protection and access to food, shelter and healthcare. Ground fighting, artillery and aerial strikes have killed and wounded at least 125 civilians since the beginning of August.

Türk also called for the release of 73 U.N. staffers “arbitrarily detained” by the Houthis in the past few years.

A moderate earthquake shook southeast Turkey and parts of Syria on Thursday, sending people rushing out of buildings in panic. There were no immediate reports of any damage.

The magnitude 5.4 quake was centered in Sanliurfa province, near the border with Syria, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency.

In 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces, including Sanliurfa. Another 6,000 people were killed in Syria.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Likud party New Year event in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)