Photo Essay Archives - Americas Quarterly

Passengers alight in Matías Romero, Oaxaca, from the new Tehuantepec Interoceanic Train.

Mexico’s Answer to the Panama Canal Finally Takes Shape

A new railway is transforming communities, livelihoods and landscapes—and could shake up global trade.

An ice cave at 16,000 feet above sea level, photographed in 2021, extends over Pastoruri Glacier Lake in the Cordillera Blanca range of the Andes. The giant cave has since disappeared.

Photo Essay: The Melting Glaciers Releasing Heavy Metals

High in Peru’s Andes, communities and scientists are racing against time to mitigate one more calamity wrought by climate change.

Tens of thousands descend on the Petronio Álvarez Festival’s main stage to see major acts and a four-category battle of the bands. They bounce for hours to the Pacific coast’s infectious rhythms, waving traditional kerchiefs in the air. The festival attracts fans of all ages and is growing rapidly.

Photo Essay: Afro-Colombian Music’s Global Party

Organizers call the five-day Petronio Álvarez Festival in Cali “the largest African diaspora cultural event in Latin America.”

Claudia Maribel Vera Pech, left, 38, and Regina Laudalina Valle Chim, 47, of the award-winning Chelemeras group trek through a wetland toward the beginnings of a new forest, planted by hand

Photo Essay: Undocumented in the Galápagos

Fleeing crime on Ecuador’s mainland, one family discovers how even an island paradise can be difficult.

Photo Essay: Inside Vanilla’s All-Natural Comeback

Synthetic vanilla dominates the market—but in Mexico, in the vanilla orchid’s native range, this tasty cash crop is enjoying a resurgence.

Photo Essay: What Lithium Extraction Looks Like in Rural Argentina

In Catamarca province, multi-billion-dollar projects are bringing changes to daily life for rural and Indigenous communities.

Photo Essay: Stories from Cuba’s New Exodus

AQ visits the U.S.-Mexico border as record numbers of Cubans attempt to cross.

A community kitchen worker chops vegetables to provide low-cost meals to people struggling with inflation and rising food prices.

Photo Essay: In Peru, a Daily Grind Against Inflation

In a poor neighborhood on Lima’s outskirts, supply disruptions and rising prices have residents struggling to afford staples.

Brazilians Vent Rio Olympics Frustration in Graffiti – Photo Essay

The graffiti marking nearly every building in Rio de Janeiro’s Vila Autódromo favela isn’t the work of idle teens. With five months to go before the Summer Olympics, the small community is being demolished to make way for Rio’s planned Olympic Park. The favela has become a focal point for anger over Olympics development, as … Read more

Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny: A Photographic Essay

“En 1800, un visitante europeo llamó a Guatemala Tierra de la Eterna Primavera. Un siglo después, el político y ensayista guatemalteco Manuel Galich llamó a su país Tierra de la Eterna Tiranía. Para pocos, Guatemala es un paraíso. Para muchos, es todo lo contrario.” For the few, Guatemala is a paradise. For the many, it … Read more