2019 Best Portfolio
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
SINGLE - Demonstrators take cover behind a torched bus, during clashes with the Bolivarian National Guard in Urena, Venezuela, near the border with Colombia, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. Venezuela's National Guard fired tear gas on residents clearing a barricaded border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia on Saturday, heightening tensions over blocked humanitarian aid that opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to bring into the country over objections from President Nicolas Maduro.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
SINGLE - In this Feb. 6, 2019 photo, the wife of a soldier who was part of the group that attacked the presidential palace in a failed 1992 military coup organized by the late Hugo Chavez, checks her hair minutes before the start of the weekly, live TV program coined: "Con el Mazo Dando," or Hitting it With a Sledgehammer, inside an aviation academy in Maracay, Venezuela. For government supporters attending the program, the enthusiasm for the show's host Diosdado Cabello, who the U.S. and European Union have sanctioned for human rights abuses and corruption, bordered on Elvis Presley-like idolatry.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
SINGLE - Central American migrants, part of the caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, receive donated food while traveling on a truck, in Celaya, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
SINGLE - Former oil worker Milton Pena poses for a portrait in one of his old PDVSA uniforms, which he uses to work as a fisherman, after a day of fishing for crabs on oil-contaminated Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 10, 2019. Nobody lives as closely with the environmental fallout of Venezuela's collapsing oil industry as the fishermen who scratch out an existence on the blackened, sticky shores of Lake Maracaibo. PHOTO MADE WITH 19TH CENTURY-STYLE BOX CAMERA
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
STORY 1 - Thousands of men across the Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua depend on lobster fishing to eke out a living, and like hundreds have been stricken with the bends, decompression sickness caused when nitrogen bubbles form in divers' bodies. Some are paralyzed. Some are killed. An average 10-pound daily haul of lobster is a windfall for people in one of the most impoverished regions of the Americas, so many take the risk, and many suffer for it. Safe standard diving techniques call for a gradual ascent to the surface to eliminate the nitrogen that the body's tissues absorb during a dive, and for a limit to the number of dives a person makes in a day. Many of the divers of Mosquitia dive deeply, surface quickly and then go back for more, racing to collect as much lobster as possible. The boats, where they spend days playing cards and talking among themselves between dives, often have only rudimentary safety equipment and use aging tanks and masks. In this Sept. 10, 2018 photo, Miskito fishermen fish cucumber under a heavy rain near Savannah Cay, Honduras.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Sept.9, 2018 photo, Rudy Emus Alfred, 19, dives using a hose to fish sea cucumber near Cay Savannah, in the Miskito coast, Honduras. Rudy earns five lempiras, around 0,20 US dollar, for each cucumber he fishes.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Jan 30, 2018 photo, Miskito diver Charly Melendez, 28, is carried by his son Jason 18 and her sister Rosa from their rented room to the hospital for a rehabilitation session in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Charly, a diver with more than 10 years of experience, became ill with decompression syndrome while fishing lobsters at sea.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Sept.11, 2018 photo, Miskito divers sleep on hammocks on the last night before returning home after 13 days fishing sea cucumber in the Miskito coast, Honduras.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Feb 1, 2018 photo, Angel Ponce takes a swig of rum, in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Among exotic, tropical vegetation along the Caribbean coast, the Mosquitia region is sprinkled with small fishing villages.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Sept. 9, 2018 photo, a diver holds onto his catch of lobsters during a fishing journey in the Miskito coast near Cay Savannah, Honduras. A diver makes 75 lempiras ($3) per pound of lobster.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Sept. 1, 2018 photo, men ride past on their horses, in Irlaya, Honduras. Among exotic, tropical vegetation along the Caribbean coast, the Mosquitia region is sprinkled with small fishing villages where residents live in clapboard houses.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Jan 31, 2018 photo, Charly Melendez, 28, looks at the ceiling as he lies prostrate next to her children in a rented room, in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Charly, a diver with more than 10 years of experience, became ill with decompression syndrome while fishing lobsters at sea.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Feb. 7, 2018 photo, Miskito divers stricken with decompression sickness climb into a hyperbaric chamber at the hospital in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Standard diving techniques call for a gradual ascent to the surface to eliminate the nitrogen that the body's tissues absorb during a dive. But many of the divers of Mosquitia dive deeply, surface quickly and then go back for more, racing to collect as much lobster as possible.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Sept.2, 2018 photo, relatives and friends carry the coffin of Miskito diver Oscar Salomon Charly, 31, who died after suffering a severe decompression syndrome while diving in Honduras, Cabo Gracias a Dios, Nicaragua.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Sept.2, 2018 photo, Sonia Wills, 55, relatives and friends mourn over the coffin of Miskito diver Oscar Salomon Charly, 31, who died after suffering a severe decompression syndrome while diving in Honduras, during his funeral in Cabo Gracias a Dios, Nicaragua.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this Jan 31, 2018 photo, 28-year-old lobster diver Charles "Charly" Melendez puts his hands over his face in frustration as he comes to terms with having to rely on a wheelchair to get around, in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. For a man who always made his living diving, it's a nightmare being confined to a wheelchair. "I still can't stand up by myself," he said. "I can't sit for a long time; after an hour my body hurts."
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
STORY 2 - For a decade, a gold rush accelerated in the Tambopata province, a center for an illicit activity that is among the most lucrative, and destructive, in the Amazonian wilderness. Peru has installed military bases in the province in hopes of curbing not just illegal mining but also human trafficking and other associated crimes. The operation began in February when authorities evicted thousands of illegal gold miners from the area and deployed hundreds of police and soldiers for the long term, lodging them in some cases in the same makeshift quarters once used by gold dealers. This April 3, 2019 photo shows an aerial view of the Mega 12 police and military base surrounded by two lakes contaminated with mercury as well as debris left by miners in Peru's Tambopata province.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this April 1, 2019 photo published May 15, soldiers wait for the arrival of a helicopter bringing supplies and replacements, on a makeshift airstrip of the Balata police and military base in Peru's Tambopata province.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
This April 1, 2019 photo shows "Operation Mercury" soldiers arriving for their new assignment standing in a dust cloud on a makeshift airstrip at the Balata police and military base in Peru's Tambopata province, as the helicopter that brought them returns to home base. The operation began in February when authoritie
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this April 3, 2019 photo published May 15, "Operation Mercury" police question a wildcat miner near the Mega 12 police base in Peru's Tambopata province. The men in uniform regularly patrol in vehicles and on motorcycles, though some miners emerge at night and there are concerns that others will wait for the military presence to subside, or simply relocate to more remote areas.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this April 1, 2019 photo published May 15, police special forces stand next to illegal mining machinery in Peru???s Tambopata province. As part of "Operation Mercury", Peruvian police and soldiers search for and destroy equipment used by illegal gold miners in a part of the Amazon rainforest where the mining transformed dense foliage into a desert pocked with dead trees and toxic pools.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this March 27, 2019 photo published May 15, a soldier hacks with a machete tubing used by illegal miners to mine gold, as part of "Operation Mercury", in Peru???s Tambopata province. The police and soldiers occasionally find machinery used by the illegal miners, and blow it up with dynamite. They also destroy metal tubing used to mine gold.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this March 31, 2019 photo published May 15, soldiers watch a nature show in their tent at the Balata military and police base in Peru???s Tambopata province. The military bases will remain at least through mid-2021, when the term of the current government ends.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this March 31, 2019 photo published May 15, Maj. Gustavo Cerdea does pull-ups using the wood frame of a structure at the Balata police and military base, once an illegal gold mining camp, in Peru???s Tambopata province. Cerdea said he had come to the booming area before the start of "Operation Mercury", in February. "It was full of people, it was like Gomorrah before it rained fire," he said, referring to the notorious city's destruction in the Bible. "Now everything is quieter."
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this March 31, 2019 photo published May 15, "Operation Mercury" police officer Julio Garcia polishes his boots inside a dwelling once used by illegal miners, now known as part of the Balata military and police base in Peru???s Tambopata province.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this April 1, 2019 photo published May 15, completing their ???Operation Mercury??? tour, soldiers load their television in to a military helicopter, on a makeshift airstrip at the Balata military and police base in Peru's Tambopata province.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
This March 28, 2019 photo published May 15 shows a memorial adorned with artificial flowers and bottles of alcohol inside a former illegal gold mining camp that has been occupied by ???Operation Mercury??? special forces and converted into the Balata police and military base, in Peru???s Tambopata province. Ernesto Rez, a biology professor in the Peruvian capital of Lima, said it will take generations to restore and reforest areas affected by mining.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
In this March 31, 2019 photo published May 15, police officers call home from their remote outpost outside the Balata military and police base in Peru's Tambopata province. The base, once an illegal gold mining camp, is occupied by "Operation Mercury" security forces and is surrounded by two lakes contaminated with mercury, as well as debris left over by miners.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
STORY 3 - Prized oil wealth once pumped from Venezuelas Lake Maracaibo has turned the vast body of water into a polluted wasteland as boom turns to bust. Nobody lives as closely with the environmental fallout as hundreds of crab fishermen who scratch out an existence on its perpetually oil-soaked shores. Production in Venezuela has crashed to a fifth of its high two decades ago, leaving behind abandoned and broken equipment. Crude oozes from hundreds of rusting platforms and cracked pipelines throughout the briny tidal bay. Fabiola Elizalzabal washes fish caught by her father near La Salina crude oil shipping terminal on Lake Maracaibo, next to an oil-covered shore in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 3, 2019. The lake is an apocalyptic scene that's getting worse as oil-soaked gunk of trash and driftwood lines its shore.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Crab fisherman whose clothing and equipment are soaked with oil take a smoke break on Lake Maracaibo near Punta Gorda beach in Cabimas, Venezuela, May 17, 2019. An explosion badly burned three fishermen recently when they fired up their boat's motor near a natural gas leak that bubbles up from the bottom of the lake, engulfing them in flames.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
A fisherman wipes oil off his freshly caught crab from Lake Maracaibo on Punta Gorda beach in Cabimas, Venezuela, May 21, 2019. Crabs from Lake Maracaibo were introduced to U.S. markets after a Louisiana oilman in 1968 spotted large numbers in the lake's oil fields and told his brother in the seafood business.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fisherman Manuel Nune's stomach is covered in oil, as he cleans up after a day of crab fishing on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 4, 2019. Fishermen wash the oil from their bodies with raw gasoline. They say the prickly rash in their skin is the price of survival.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fishermen Erick Alejandro, left, and Kelvin Alcala remove oil accumulated inside their boat after a workday on the oil-soaked shore of Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 4, 2019. The fetid banks sends the headache-inducing smell of petroleum from perpetual oil spills through the waterside villages, exposing people who depend on the lake for food and jobs.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Resting in a hammock, a fishermen's feet are covered with oil after a morning of crab fishing in Lake Maracaibo, in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 4, 2019. "The Venezuelan fisher folks are living a hellacious existence," said Cornelis Elferink, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. "They're at the epicenter."
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fishermen wearing oil stained uniforms from Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA, catch bass known as "robalo" near La Salina crude oil shipping terminal, on Lake Maracaibo near Cabimas, Venezuela, May 18, 2019. Villagers say they first noticed oil lapping ashore when the petroleum industry's downturn began under the late President Hugo Chavez.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fisherman Yanis Rodrguez and his family ride in the back of a 1970's taxi, driven by a PDVSA state oil worker who makes extra money as a taxi driver, to the market to buy groceries in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 3, 2019. Rodrguez used to dream of one day buying a new car and sending his eight children to private school. "But not anymore," said Rodrguez, who lives on rationed electricity and struggles to find sources of clean water for washing, cooking and drinking. "Everything is going from bad to worse."
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fishermen covered in oil get their boat ready for fishing on Lake Maracaibo near La Salina crude oil shipping terminal in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 9, 2019. Nobody lives as closely with the environmental fallout of Venezuela's collapsing oil industry as the fishermen who scratch out an existence on the blackened, sticky shores of Lake Maracaibo.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
A fisherman paddles from the inner tube of a truck tire on Lake Maracaibo near La Salina crude oil shipping terminal near Cabimas, Venezuela, May 22, 2019. Maracaibo Lake, the once prized source of vast wealth, has turned into a polluted wasteland, with crude oozing from hundreds of rusting platforms and cracked pipelines that crisscross the briny tidal bay.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fisherman Antonio Tello jokes around with his daughter Genesis Tello as they clean oil off of crabs that he caught in Lake Maracaibo, on Punta Gorda beach in Cabimas, Venezuela, July 11, 2019. Crabs are weighed and trucked to processing plants for their eventual shipment to consumers in the United States, neighboring Colombia and locally in Venezuela, who have no idea the crab on their plates was caught in oil-soaked water.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
2019 Best Portfolio
Fisherman Jose Miguel Perez, whose nickname is "Taliban," navigates the oil infested waters of Lake Maracaibo, near Cabimas, Venezuela, May 21, 2019. Nobody lives as closely with the environmental fallout of Venezuela's collapsing oil industry as the fishermen who scratch out an existence on the blackened, sticky shores of Lake Maracaibo.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press