Bolsonaro sentenced in Brazil, a blackout in Cuba and more top photos this week from Latin America

Sept. 5-11, 2025

Haitians displaced by gang violence in the capital took shelter in a government building as a ban on U.S. commercial flights was extended due to the risk that gangs might attack flights. Supporters reacted to Brazil's Supreme Court sentencing former President Jair Bolsonaro to more than 27 years in prison after convicting him of attempting a coup to remain in office despite his 2022 electoral defeat.

This gallery was curated by photo editor Leslie Mazoch, based in Mexico City.

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Former President Cristina Fernandez waves to supporters from the balcony of her home where she is serving a six-year house arrest sentence for corruption, after legislative provincial election polls closed, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Venezuela's Nahuel Ferraresi heads the ball during a World Cup 2026 qualifying soccer match against Colombia in Maturin, Venezuela, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Inmates take part in the annual beauty pageant, held to mark the feast of the Virgin of Mercy, the patron saint of prisoners, at El Buen Pastor women's prison in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Firefighters spray hoses at a gas tanker that exploded under a highway overpass in Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Tristan Velazquez)

People attend an event honoring those disappeared during the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, outside the Justice Palace in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Relatives of bus driver Arturo Ramon cry next the bus where he was killed in the San Juan de Miraflores neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

A fisherman paddles his boat on the Amazon river in Puerto Narino, Colombia, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

A man mocks a soldier patrolling the Siloé neighborhood in Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

A supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro cries during a vigil in his support near his home where he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

People play dominoes on the street during a blackout in Havana, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People displaced by gang violence live at the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications office converted into a shelter in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)